Nightmare Syndrome
by riversrunthroughme
Summary: The Threat: destructive, insane and worst of all...contagious. Only Yoko can stop it except...no one's seen him for years.
1. Prologue

** Nightmare Syndrome**  
  
**Story thus far:** It's been 100 year since the Demon Tournament. _**Yuusuke Urameshi**_ has become the Third Lord of the Makai. _**Keiko Yukimura**_ after finding that she would not live to see the end of Yuusuke's days, made a deal with a demon to give her a life _equal to that_ of Yuusuke's. They _rule the Third realm together_. Since Koenma's recent intolerance for his former team mates, Yuusuke's Realm has since sunk into a _lock down_ of sorts. Many 'negotiation' parties have been seen entering and rumor whispers that the young lord has spoken with Enma himself. _Whether he remains Koenma's ally or enemy is unclear_.  
  
_**Youko Kurama**_ became an _equal with Yomi_ after the natural deaths of his parents and brother. According to human records he sold his company to a cousin and faded into obscurity afterward, vanishing into the Makai to quickly reclaim his former glory as _King of Thieves_. Easily done. Youko seems to have no interest what so ever in trying to usurp Yomi's throne and slipped back into legend and whisper. Reports of high thievery in the Reikai, however, has placed him inexcusably high on _Spirit World's most wanted_. He hasn't been heard from since the last bounty hunt was sicced on his trail. Rumor and mystery abound the youko's disappearance.  
  
_**Hiei Jaganshi**_ became almost invisible in the tides of Makai politics. After his agreement to work with/for Mukuro the fire demon seemed to vanish as well. An enigma to the end no one is certain _how far his powers strengthened_ under her training. However, the mysterious circumstances that lead to _Mukuro's untimely demise_ knocked the illustrious Jaganshi to the _top of the Makai's most wanted_. He is currently the _prime suspect._

**_Kuzuma Kuwabara_** _died a demon hunter_ employed by Koenma. His Spirit Powers lengthened his life span somewhat, but it was an unlucky match with a high class youkai that ended his life short. The guilty demon was_ never publically identified_ or caught and much mystery still hangs around his death. Koenma _refuses to reveal the files_ on his last target.  
  
**_Botan_**, the deity of Death is still 'alive' and well after nearly one hundred years. Employed by Koenma she was the first to hear of both Kuwabara's demise and Mukuro's murder. She has contacted neither Yuusuke nor any of her old acquaintances since the Reikai Tantei was disbanded. Under what gossip murmurs were _'dramatic' circumstances_ she remained at her post even when the bounty on Youko and Hiei's head was proclaimed. Many say she had been _involved in something forbidden_ and as punishment banned from exiting Spirit World HQ. She remains somewhat a mystery.  
  
The final and most unexpected member of our story is **_Shizuru Kuwabara._** The incident between Kurama, Karasu and a device called the Kitsune Flute some time after the Dark Tournament led her into confrontation with a rare and deadly creature known as a _shadowkai, dark angel_. Hailing from the underbelly of the Makai he possessed the power to awaken previously _inaccessible amounts of_ _Spirit Energy_. This sudden surge of power has given her a _demon's life span_ and more. She was last heard of traveling with several _high class Shinobi sects,_ seeking training. No one knows where she currently resides.  
  
This story begins in the middle of nothing. No big climactic battles, no big bad guys leaping out with bomb to destroy the world, nothing of the sort. It picks up smack dab in the center of demon paradise...or hell...depends on your point of view.  
  
New Chaos. The City of Black Stone.

** . . .**

_**-Will someone wake me up already? Because, you know what, this nightmare's getting stale enough to break teeth.-  
  
-Cloudhunter  
**_  
** $%$%$%$%  
**  
{Me} Just a short peek into what my story will hopefully hold. This is it. The big promised sequel to Nightmares Old Oaths. If you want a bit more info check my bio. So as a believer of democracy what do ye the people say in regard to the creation of this fic?  
  
'Yay?'  
  
Or...  
  
'Nay?'  
  
(Cloud8.9} NAAA-AY!!! {a loud banging sound is heard, such as a pan striking skull}  
  
{Me} Democracy is lovely, but not from him. Review and vote! JA NE!!


	2. Bounty Hunter Tango

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. I own no YYH characters. I own no anime. I own no millions of dollars in anime soliciting. I DO however, own Cloud. HA!! He's miiine!! I own HIS ASS!! No touchy!! MIIINE!! And the plot too!! {snatches} MIINE!!!  
  
Ahem...

**Story Thus Far: **Umm...nothing new yet...OH! Little note here! It's been nearly a century so by now Keiko and Yusuke _might_ have a family by now. Just a warning for those of you who dislike the idea of a fic with the children of YYH charries. They _MIGHT_ have a part, but the story does not focus upon them so fear not. They might not even appear. I haven't decided yet.

Enjoy chapter 2!  
  
**Bounty heads  
  
. . .  
**  
_Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..._  
  
The rhythmic whir of the decrepit fan overhead quickly became hypnotic to the young man stretched out on the moth eaten excuse for a motel cot. The soft buzz of the 'VACANCY' sign outside he knew as a familiar lullaby to which he was happily ready to give into. The shadows pulsated with metric recurrence, the long shady arm of the fan's limbs casting the shadow across the ceiling, somehow causing the youth's bright garnet eyes to flutter with each rotation.  
  
Once...  
  
Twice...  
  
Three times...  
  
Again...  
  
And again...  
  
His lids grew heavier and heavier with each passing flicker. His blink lasting longer than it had the time before, lengthening steadily. He favored it, the few moments right before passing into sleep, drifting away into darkness that was so familiar to him.  
  
He felt a remote pang of guilt at his indulgence. After all, the very reason he resided up here enjoying the lighted world was due to his abhorrence for his unlit home world. Ahh, irony was a cruel old biddy sometimes and she so did enjoy cracking her cane down on his poor, abused head.  
  
"Dreams tonight?" he asked the ceiling through half closed eyes, long pale lashes curtaining his gaze. "Or nightmares perhaps? ...Dreamless sleeping?" He considered his last speculation a moment. "Nah."  
  
He stretched long, wiry arms over his head, back arching slightly and the young looking man grimaced at the sound of his cracking vertebrae. He wondered if one day during a stealth mission he would bend over to pick up his weapon and suddenly his bones would crack and that would be the end of him and his nearly 300 years of solitary existence.  
  
He sighed as his slender, yet well built body settled back on the moldy sheets.

His black t-shirt was a size too large, but the sleeves had been ripped out earning others a slight preview of hard chest and shoulder muscle. Built with wide shoulders and narrow waist he could be deemed either thin or wiry. Either way, he was strong without looking like a tank and that deception had saved his life many times.  
  
Ruby eyes flickered as a small thud sound drifted from the streets outside. A cat yowled and hissed in the allies below and a trash can tipped with a gun-like bang.  
  
With a sigh his lifted his arm over his head to brush away gold tinted strands of stray blond hair from his crimson eyes, spikes of the pale tresses trailing haphazardly into his young, tired face. Disappointment stirred in him. With a lazy, fluid movement he reached back behind his head to slide his arms under his pillow, propping his head up.  
  
-_And I had _so_ been looking forward to a goodnight's sleep_.-  
  
Then the window exploded in front of him! The curtains tearing and dark figures seemed to sweep like living shadows into the room, swiftly gliding across the floor to surround the prone boy sprawled on the bed. Glass rained down like someone had used diamonds for confetti at a surprise party.  
  
Surprise Cloud.  
  
The immortal gave a small, charming smile to the three cloaked and hooded individuals now situated on both sides and the foot of his bed. His ivory fangs were unusually prominent in the rather sexy curve of his lips as he adjusted his head slightly to the left to give himself the added benefit of gazing up at them through a curtain of impossible gold blond hair.

Silence hung in the air for a long moment as both visitors and resident eyed each other, sizing up the opposition and weighing the pros and cons of starting an all out brawl.  
  
Or...at least Cloud was.  
  
"Oh gods, it's my fan club." the tall, deceptively slender blonde chuckled sardonically. The three figures remained quiet and Cloud's expression became somewhat more malicious as his patience thinned. "You have something terribly important to tell me or did you come by because you wanted to ogle?"  
  
The figure to his left gave a snobbish kind of snort and Cloud began to calculate the fastest and most efficient move to take this guy to the carpet without sparing him any pain.  
  
"Cloud? The dark angel of the Unlit? You are he, are you not?"  
  
Cloud's garnet eyes rolled in irritation. "Sorry that would be the _other_ shadowkai in room 209."  
  
The guy on the left snorted again. Man, what was with this guy? He couldn't talk to you, he had to nasally clear his throat (how that works he was mystified, but it sounded like Mr. Snort was pulling it off) and do a pig imitation. _Wow_, do _I_ feel inferior...  
  
"A-_HEM_!"  
  
Cloud pulled out of his mental tirade in time to see the Three Stooges all shift in annoyance. This only amused Cloud to great heights and he shook his handsome head mock apologetically.  
  
"I'm sorry, I missed all your threats. What?"  
  
The figure on the right hissed something nasty and therefore unprintable here, but it was something along the lines of: Forget this, let's take him now! The next thing happening was Mrs. Death Wish (it was a girl, he could tell by the pitch of her voice and the bulges curving out from her chest area.) plunging her robed hands into the folds of her cloak, obviously going for some kind of weapon.  
  
_**Click**_

Cloud smiled predatorily and Mr. Snort and Mrs. Death Wish who had both gone stone still. Anyone watching might have suspected Cloud guilty of stealing Medusa's gaze, but upon closer inspection the real reason for their sudden petrifaction would have been made clear.  
  
The misleadingly laid back and slender immortal had the barrels of two jet black handguns pressed lightly into the hoods of both their cloaks, the mouths of the two precious weapons kissing unseen foreheads beneath. He'd obviously pulled them from underneath the pillow he'd been so casually lounging on.  
  
"So what's the bounty on my head?" he asked conversationally, tone light and chatty, but his garnet eyes were hard, glinting, and alert. "I heard Koenma's upped the price since the Tantei went postal."  
  
"One million," the last figure growled, sounding irritated that their little hunting party had the tables turned on them.  
  
Cloud's nasty smirk widened minutely and he clicked his tongue thoughtfully. "One mil?" he whistled appreciatively. "My ass is getting _expensive_ and I haven't even done anything."  
  
"You're an assassin!" snarled Mrs. Death Wish. Cloud's garnet eyes lost the thoughtful wistfulness to focus like a lazer on the speaker. She didn't seem to realize the words that were coming out of her own mouth. Despite the danger onward she rambled, righteous anger taking her voice high and shrill...or maybe it was fear.

"You're a mass murder of humans and demons alike. The Tantei let you off the hook for far too long so Koenma took it upon himself to catch you."  
  
Cloud snorted. "That's funny none of you much look like the Toddler."  
  
"Don't have to with a bounty that high, blondie."  
  
"Do you enjoy having a head?" he demanded, shoving the over talkative demon toward the door with a jab of his gun. She yelped as the metal bruised ribs and backed away from the annoyed immortal. "Now you can all back up real slow out that door and go back to whatever the hell it is you nasty demons do and remember that a three-man team to catch me is a bit presumptuous."  
  
"Oh we will," the quieter one simpered scathingly from the door way, being the last one to exit and thinking himself safe to get in the last word. Tch. Like hell.  
  
Cloud snapped out of perception and reappeared, leaning in the bounty hunter's cloaked face, ruby eyes glittering a freakish blood-light in the dull electric glow of the illumination outside. The mouth of his hand gun was dug into his visitor's gut, hammer already back. He could see right through the shadows into the guy's (rather startled and terrified) face.  
  
He could have passed for handsome, politician face, thin, high cheekbones. Save the pair of silver blue fox ears poking out from his lank blue hair and the rosy, wine hued cast in his eyes he was almost human looking.  
  
Cloud chuckled, low and velvet dark.

"Just 'cause you have some Reikai blood in your veins doesn't make you anymore Koenma then the rest of us demons. So don't pretend it buys you immunity to the bullet I'm seriously thinking about putting through your skull."  
  
The raspberry eyes widened, startled that the shadowkai could read his aura so easily.  
  
Cloud smiled a cold smile, fangs glittering. "Now go back to whoever sent you and tell them to kiss my pricey ass. Bye-_bye_."  
  
He kicked the half demon out the door and sent him crashing headlong into his accomplices. Cloud watched with a small measure of satisfaction as the men toppled like a many limbed bowling ball down the stairs just to the left of his door. He'd asked for this particular room for a reason.  
  
Cloud snorted and turned away, closing the door silently behind him. With a small sound of protest at the unfairness to the world, he picked up his weather worn, ever faithful black trench coat. Nimble fingers strapped the myriad of buckles and bindings that traveled down the front of the garment and ended just under the gap between his collarbones, letting the collar hang loose.  
  
The over large garment now encased the immortal's lithe body comfortably without obstructing his movements.  
  
He routinely checked the uncountable metal clasps and leathers straps about his lower arms, encircling his wrists and knuckles in a protective layer of metal, cloth and leather. Satisfied that his chances of twisting his wrist were out of the question, he rummaged in his pockets and produced several thin razor blades which he discreetly slid under the thicker bands of leather.  
  
Whistling, he picked up his beloved twin hand guns and holstered them securely on his thighs, hidden by the folds of his too-large jacket. Pretending all was fine and dandy with the world, the shadowkai leapt smoothly out the window broken by the Three Stooges and hopped lightly from the sill to the filthy ally way outside.  
  
He checked the area for possible set up and found nothing out of place. Finally, he reached into his pocket and flicked a pair of wire rimmed black sunglasses open. With a lazy move he slid them up the bridge of his nose and screened his unnatural blood red eyes from the world's prying eyes.  
  
Hands in his pockets Cloud meandered casually through the steamy streets of New Chaos, comfortable as a hunting cat stalking its territory. This was his lot in life and he was rather content with that. Kept him on his toes anyway. Pausing to examine a bent street sign he made his way toward the Black Fortune Café. It wasn't a nice place but it was crowded and smoky enough to make him invisible without actually trying.  
  
Soft words floated lazily from his lips as he strolled down the street, his heavy boots thudding on the cement, song lost in the roar of the demonic metropolis.  
  
_"And as the sun goes down I cry myself to sleep...I watch the bugs crawling across my skin...now that you are gone I can let things crumble...I know it seems that this was meant to be ...It's so hard to see and all I do is stumble..."_  
  
He kicked lightly at a can and continued to the end chorus, ignoring the rest of the stanza.  
  
_"I'm only falling through the cracks... I'm only losing my will to live... I'm only broken and beaten down... I'm only...If only the sun would spare me this pain...I would open up the doors meet you there..."  
_  
Away he went.

** . . .**

"By the hells, that _hurt_..."  
  
"I didn't even _see_ him move and he had those damn guns on us."  
  
"Did you see him jump Alaster, though? I thought he was _done_ for."  
  
"_Shuttup_!!" snarled the said half demon, turning a dangerous gold tinted glare on his companions who were ranting and rambling aimlessly on their encounter.

The two demons blinked lids at him before returning idiotically to their previous conversation. The male was laughing heartily, at the description the female was hungrily lavishing on the blond bounty head. Something like: 'tight ass, hot body, blah, blah, blah'. They were hired muscle, idiots and completely expendable. Alaster planned to 'expend' them soon, but first he needed to contact his partner.  
  
Flicking a small communication mirror open in his palm he irately brushed long, lank blue hair out of his face and popped a small sucker in his mouth. A habit he'd had forever. He just didn't feel right without something in his mouth so he carried a never ending arsenal of suckers, hard candy and what-not.  
  
"Hey. You there?" he asked the small, slightly cracked lens, shifting the candy to one side of his mouth.  
  
"Like I'd miss this," drawled a lazy, female voice from the other side of the link. "What's the status, Al?"  
  
The half demon deity rubbed his bruised stomach where Cloud's hand gun had introduced itself.  
  
"He's alive and kicking ass, _mine_ in particular. You gonna go after him, Sis?" asked the false bounty hunter.  
  
There was a soft feminine sigh from the mirror. Alaster knew the reason and blushed very faintly, happy that the mirror was cracked and images didn't come through. 'Sis' was a nick name she'd earned in his eyes. When she was being thoughtful or reflecting the nickname bothered her though he was uncertain why. However, she had taken to calling him Bro a long time ago, often 'Baby Bro' much to his irritation.  
  
"Yeah. Did you manage to slip a youki tracer on him?"  
  
"Yeah, but he'll get two blocks and chuck it, I know he saw me put it on his shirt."  
  
"It doesn't matter. He's on the corner of Misuki and Fifth. If he chucks it now it doesn't matter, I've got him. Thanks Al. I'll see you tonight."  
  
Alaster frowned. "You'd better," he growled under his breath.

There was a beep and he quickly closed the comm-link. He contemplated the odds of her return to the odds of her demise and found he was unable to clearly predict the outcome. Sighing he rose from his seat at the smoke misted table and moved to speak with his two accomplices.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry." He apologized while bowing slightly to the two demons. "I needed to speak with my employer. He would like to know what form of payment you'd prefer," Alaster went on, sliding into the remaining seat and propping his folded arms upon the table top in a good natured way.  
  
The female demon – Jezal – smiled erotically at the pretty half youko and shifted in her seat to give her scantily clad breasts better leverage. Under the heavy cloaks they'd worn, the youkai was clad in very little.  
  
-_Just enough not to be naked, not enough to hide anything.-_  
  
Alaster pretended not to notice, focusing on the male demon who seemed to be thinking unusually hard about it.  
  
"I want gold. _Period_. Nothing special or tricky. Fork over what's coming to me, got it _princess_?" he grunted, decisively pounding his beefy fist on the table between Alaster's elbows. The half demon smiled patiently and nodded. Satisfied, the male demon leaned back in his seat, having asserted his masculine authority over the smaller youkai. Secretly unimpressed, Alaster turned to the female to his left.  
  
Then he wished he hadn't.  
  
Jezal leaned slowly across the table hoping to snag his attention with her freely hanging chest pressed to the table. Alaster hid his disgust with difficulty as she smiled invitingly at him, leaning closer than necessary to speak. Oh gods, he could actually smell the cheap perfume she was marinated in. The half demon tried not to wrinkle his sensitive nose.  
  
She purred throatily, a long, exotically tattooed arm slipping about his shoulders. "I know how you could repay me, honey."  
  
Alaster felt a claw under his chin, slowly tracing his jaw line to his lips. Jezal brought her face temptingly close to his, as her roving fingers moved through his silky blue hair to stroke his triangular fox ears. She tipped her head aside to whisper against his pale neck.  
  
"You look a lot like that Yoko Kurama guy," she remarked softly.  
  
"I know I do. In three...two...one..."  
  
At that moment the Death Seeds he'd subtly planted in their bodies, seconds after their tumble down the stairs, burst into bloom.

. . . The dagger slammed point first into the table top and every demon froze up.  
  
Not just for fearing the ire of their leader, but logically due to the twenty degree temperature drop that assaulted the room. Frost crept up the window panes as arctic air froze breath from the lips. Light glinted from the dagger edge and all the cloaked and tense figures shifted uncomfortably.  
  
Everyone fell silent save on demon in the front who would not stop coughing. He looked terrified, sure that his noise would draw the wrath of the ice youkai  
  
"Sick?" The icy tone in their leader's soft voice was a very bad omen to their health.  
  
The air grew colder still and the black cloaked youkai fingered the rough notches gouged into the wooden table top. Slender fingers traced the edges slowly as glowing blue eyes flickered toward the gathered bounty hunters. "All your men? _All_ of them? Heh. Why does my heart not ooze with sympathy?"  
  
"It could have been poison," one incredibly brave and stupid demon piped up. The ice youkai turned a shadowy face to the speaker. The demon started to falter under the unseen death glare. "Err...what I mean is...I...some of the men thought...they complained about...being pricked...or scratched...umm..."  
  
The ice demon obviously was not impressed and several demons shook their heads. It was a weak argument and everyone knew it. The speaker instantly seemed to shrink into the dirt floor. Silence fell, broke only by the occasional cough or two.  
  
"They complained of a few cut and scrapes in the middle of _forest_ and I am to believe this is somehow the cause of a mass spread illness? I won't bother to kill you because you'll most likely kill yourself for stupidity."  
  
The icy bounty hunter turned back to the rest of the group.  
  
"I told you failure is _not_ an option in this game. Now he knows someone's looking for him. You _said_ you knew this terrain, could promise me a slight edge. All I've received so _far_..."  
  
He snatched his dagger from the table and whirled on the coughing demon that seemed to be a suffering from a sudden lung disease. The green skinned lizard youkai shrieked and ducked, already feeling the bite of the blade in his skull. Everyone in the room stared at the unfortunate youkai, searching for the dagger that should have been stuck in his forehead. It took a moment for everyone to realize that the dagger was safely sheathed in the speaker's belt.  
  
"Is a headache, excuses, and a lost element of surprise," he finished evenly. The room held its collective breath. The one demon coughed once into the silence and clapped a hand over his muzzle.  
  
The leader, an experienced fighter who'd shown up out of no where, was an ice demon judging by his energy manipulation. No one dared ask his name, no one bothered with those trivials anyway. He'd been tracking someone. Some one dangerous if they'd actually vouched to get a hunting party together.  
  
All the bored and gung-ho bounty hunters in the area decided to join him, now they were wishing they'd all just stayed out of his way. Him and his crazy partner, the latter of the two being seated in a dark corner of the rafters over head, humming cheerfully to himself and watching the show like it all a big play for his enjoyment.  
  
"I'm relieving every one of your place in this group. I suggest you leave quickly."  
  
The scamper for the door was like a stampede of cattle for the watering hole. In an instant the room was empty leaving only the two hunters left.  
  
"Io guess tha' did'nah go too weel," remarked the shadowy figure seated in the rafters. His voice was light, lilting and fast paced with a deep accent that made his speech nearly undecipherable. "Ah this rant we'll never be findin' tha' creepy guy. All those idiots follerin' yu around lioke hound- dogs wid a rabbit trail. Why dincha kill em, Touya?"  
  
The ice demon yanked his concealing black hood from his face, light fell across pale angular features and slanted pools of blue that were his eyes. Shaking his head with a sigh, the Ice Master folded his arms across his narrow chest and blew his four misplaced teal bangs out of his face.  
  
"Because as much attention as those bumbling fools attracted by utterly destroying our search; think how much more attention would be drawn our way if they all were to meet an untimely demise only two days after our arrival," Touya replied tersely. 

Pupiless azure eyes flitted to his comrade's hiding place in the overhead beams. "Get _down_ from there, Jin. The show is over and we must go before the trail grows any colder.  
  
There was a whoosh and blurr of motion and wind. A blinking later a tall well built elfin youkai was seated comfortably on the top of the table, Indian style. His dancing blue eyes were practically laughing, endlessly amused by Touya's terrifying affect on all the low class killer wannabes that crawled around this area. The wild mop of flame orange hair capping his head was only just settling from the tiny gust he'd summoned. The Wind Master's long, triangular ears twitched excitedly as he grinned to his stony faced companion.  
  
"Mioght be a shade warmer if'n yu stopped th' blizzard an le' it warm up a wee bit," chuckled the wind elf.  
  
Touya rolled his eyes and moved toward the open door with an irritated sigh. The ice receded from the farthest wall, the sheets of cold following the young man's slender countenance toward the exit. He was far to annoyed to give a care at the moment.  
  
The two comrades moved down the path to their left, and made their way toward the nearest city. Silence hung over them like a silent threat. To lose their element was surprise was something Touya had made explicitly clear that he'd had no wish to do. Frankly, Jin wasn't too pleased about this development either. They'd been tracking this killer down for almost two months. The speed in which Touya had tracked the fleeing demon was incredible, but Jin was used to his friend's astounding intelligence and so it was hardly a surprise when they'd been asked to do the tracking job.  
  
The tracking was easy.  
  
It was when you _caught up_ with the target that the problem presented itself.  
  
True it was, that Touya had developed a greater connection to ice, in fact the ice youkai's training had advanced so far that even Jin had not seen the full extent of his abilities. He wasn't sure he wanted to sometimes. Touya had once said that ice was a cool and calm element to control at first, but when you delved deeper into the mysteries of the colder power it began to get dangerous, complex and more mind consuming.  
  
Jin had advanced greatly in his technique using the wind. Having earned a title as the greatest Wind Master alive he was easily maintaining it power- wise but he wasn't sure if he was quite ready to face the challenge that they'd agreed to take on. His element was wind. True it was easy to tap into and manipulate, he was a natural at the control of the breeze, but he'd recently reached a new plateau in his training and his powers were some what...unpredictable.  
  
However, their previous hunts had gone quite well. On the askance of a good friend they'd come to this area of Makai. A Dead Zone. No Emperors ruled it and it was every demon for himself. Mostly a hang out for low level scum. Just about no one ever came down here to see what was happening because usually nothing was. But there was something wrong. Or so their ally had said. It was too quiet down here and she wanted them to investigate it as a possible hide out for her target.  
  
And who better to do it then the two most skilled shinobi around?  
  
So they'd come and tracked and found some rather disturbing things. Jin was already convinced and ready to return and report their findings but Touya was not so readily swayed. He wanted to be sure this was actually the real thing. Anyone could lay a false trail, pretend to be someone he was not. He needed some serious proof that what was happening here was real and that meant seeing it with his own eyes.  
  
The inn was run down to say the least. Jin was all for sleeping outside like they usually did but Touya pointed out that dozing in the open wasn't an option for them anymore. Jin twitched slightly and involuntarily glanced up at his forehead, not actually seeing, but knowing there was a large chip taken out of his horn. A very near miss from the last little encounter they'd had while traveling this region.

Yeah, sleeping in the inn would be OK for now.  
  
The two comrades took a seat in the shadiest corner of the tavern and relaxed a bit for the first time in about two days. Neither of them lowered their hood from their faces however, because despite everything their likeness was uncomfortably well known to those who wished to find them. Being in the Dark Tournament a century previous had given all manner of youkai access to their appearance and anyone who wished them harm could be searching for them. Yes, it wasn't much fun, but it was better than dying.  
  
Jin yanked his hood off.  
  
...Or not.  
  
"Ah! It's bein' far too warm in here fer all tha' hot and heavy clothin'. Doncha think Touya?"  
  
The ice demon resisted the urge to slap his forehead in frustration and pulled the dark cowl back from his face, but not completely off. The icy look he sent Jin told his exactly what he thought about the wind elf at the moment and Jin wasn't too keen on raising the smaller youkai's ire any farther than it had been upped these last few days.  
  
"Ahh, relax. There ain't no one 'ere t' see," Jin reassured his edgy companion.  
  
Paranoia wasn't usual for Touya, but these last few weeks he'd been pushed to his limit. At one point he and Jin had separated to cover more ground and unfortunately the lone ice demon had run into a nasty bunch of living corpses that just refused to die. They had pursued him for a ridiculously long time but eventually Touya's frigid techniques did their work and the undead creatures were finally put down.  
  
Touya described it like five hours of, and I quote, 'godsdamned hell'. End quote.  
  
Jin had been a smidge more lucky asking questions in a nearby town. Many of the occupants of the village had been taken ill recently and the more delusional ones had been very forthcoming upon Jin's friendly inquiries. Many of them rambled about crows, and 'horrible glowing purple eyes'.  
  
This had been the first sighting of their targeted quarry, but despite the hair-raising encounter Touya was not one to be scared off. Luckily, by doubling back to Jin's location and performing a complex tracker spell Touya had picked up on his trail and given them a hot new lead.  
  
However this lead was now stone cold due to the idiocy and greed of the stupid demons living in the area. _Tch_. Organize a hunting party. What a _bright_ idea _that_ had been. No sooner had they set out on the hunt than several of the weaker demons started to become tired and ill with the constant searching. After only a day they were forced to turn back. Touya brooded over this a moment before glancing up at his companion.  
  
"It's almost disturbing," he remarked.  
  
Jin blinked up at him, bright blue eyes lit with curiosity. "What now?"  
  
"Well, the illness I mean. Half the hunting party came down with it."  
  
Jin shrugged and yawned drowsily as he replied. "Yur jus' worryin' too much. Dun be gettin' yer hair in a twist over nuthin, Toy." The Wind Master folded his arms over his chest and sat back in his seat, sitting comfortably into the worn leather upholstery. "They're all jus' a great buncha ninnies an' wusses that's wha'. Sides, a bit o' th' sniffles never 'urt nobody."  
  
Touya frowned. "Yes, but it looked more than simple exhaustion or common virus to me, Jin. I don't know how they picked it up but they all seemed unfocused, then fell into fever. I doubt over reaching their physical limits could damage their immune system to the point of them all catching this sickness."  
  
"Uh-huh..."  
  
"It's probably nothing but I feel like our target is somehow causing...Jin?" Touya broke off to peer at his friend. He'd been silent for far too long and that last reply hadn't been very energetic, unusual for the hyperactive wind demon. "Jin?"  
  
Touya blinked, uncertain at first about what he was seeing.  
  
No, it was real, his eyes weren't playing tricks.  
  
Jin was slumped back in his seat, out like a light, snoring softly and peacefully. He'd somehow dozed off during Touya's brief reply and now he was sawing logs in dreamland. Just like Jin.  
  
Touya shook his head and studied his friend.  
  
They'd been pushing themselves pretty hard the last few months. Jin hadn't ever raised a complaint to Touya's fast pace or his near tireless efforts to find their chosen target in almost impossible situations. He'd always been there to back him up, offer a new insight or make Touya stop pushing himself too hard, because often the ice demon forgot little things like sleep when he was on the trail of something. But it was pretty obvious that the long time on the road had worn both of them a bit.  
  
_-I just hope we can find this guy in time,-_ Touya thought distractedly, glancing out he nearby window, cupping chin with his hands, fingers curled lightly against his lips. Slowly his thoughts turned back to their 'employer'. He could still see the glittering hatred in her tawny eyes. -_It disturbs me that she so lives for this vengeance.-  
_  
Touya frowned, dark thoughts becoming a blur in his mind. With a sigh he leaned back in his seat and focused on relaxing each of his taunt muscles. He rotated his wrists, groaning in satisfaction as they both cracked softly in the ruckus of the tavern. Touya stretched, cat-like, extending his arms over head and wincing as his shoulders protested the movement. Yes, they'd been on the road far too long and pressing on with out rest far too long.  
  
As much as he hated it, Touya knew the trail was all but frigid and they could probably spare a day or two to regain their strength. Tapping a finger thoughtfully on the table Touya didn't take note of the figure that drew even with him until it stopped directly beside his table.  
  
"Do you wish to know immortality?"  
  
The shinobi froze. In a moment all Touya's senses were focused upon the being standing alongside him. Pale blue eyes slid smoothly around to study the speaker. A tall, black cloaked figure was lounging comfortably against the outside of the booth, shadowy face turned to look at the slender ice demon. Touya wasn't impressed, but he was certainly intrigued by the question.  
  
"Immortality?" Touya murmured voice soft as usual. He glanced away, his face set a nearly bored expression of disinterest. "Impossible as it is folly."  
  
"Do you think it a _bad_ thing, ice demon?" The question was mildly interested, slightly off-kilter. Touya rather doubted the sanity of the speaker and wished he'd moved away. Touya was getting sick of everything and would have liked to get some rest.  
  
"What good is living forever if you're left all alone?" Touya asked, monotonously, closing his azure eyes. Greenish bangs slipped into his left eye as he added, "You'd get tired of living eventually. I know this for a fact."  
  
"Are _you_ tired of living, pretty ice demon?"  
  
Touya's eyes slitted open at the complimentary innuendo. "Was that a threat?"  
  
"Life is full of threats," the cloaked figure told him joyfully, if not a bit insanely. "Are you _sick_ of them, little blue eyed, ice demon? Sick of _life_?"  
  
Touya was getting irritated. His said blue eyes glittered insidiously in the dim lighting as he softly made his displeasure known to the bold demon.  
  
"These questions are both pointless and tiresome," he growled. "Leave now or I will make you leave."  
  
The tall, cloaked figure shrugged slowly, shoulders arching with a strange gracefulness one didn't often associate with an insane person. Touya watched the demon moved away from the table with lidded blue eyes, following every step as the stranger wandered away into the crowd and out the door. Touya was silent for a long time afterwards. The roaring of the bar around him could not wake the ice demon for the silent train of thought running through his mind.  
  
Immortality...  
  
Touya reached across the table to shake Jin.  
  
"Come on. Let's get a room."

** . . .**

Cloud stretched, back arching and cracking as if his earlier strtch hadn't quite reached all those pesky vertebra in his lower spine.

Relaxing, he slouched comfortably in his seat, happily tucked in a corner stall of the bar, watching the smoke drift perpetually through the air. Demons moved through the room at will, brawling, fighting, drinking and groping the serving girls. He wrinkled his nose and folded his arms across his chest to wait for his drink.  
  
He hadn't ordered one, but he knew he was going to get one.  
  
Five seconds later a shapely bar girl wearing a black spandex outfit that revealed a flat, tanned belly, rushed his table and frantically placed a mug of beer on his table. She smiled sweetly at him before sticking her tongue out at the other bar maids who glowered back, jealous.  
  
The girl turned back to Cloud, grinning sweetly as she batted long lashes at him. Her light teal hair curled cutely around her face, a pair of fins on either side of her head flapping.  
  
"Hey, sweetie. This ones on the house," she said sliding the mug toward him and leaning comfortably on the table. Cloud noticed a long pale blue tail swinging back and forth behind her. She caught his stare and the serpentine limb slunk up to wave at him from the opposite side of the table. "Strange, but fun," she said with a playful smile.  
  
Cloud peered at her. "Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked, frowning. She opened her mouth to talk but some one beat her to the punch.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Her name's Juri and she thinks she's all that and a bag of chips because she was a referee at the Dark Tournament a billion years ago," snapped a female fox demon, passing by with a tray of steaming food. She grabbed the younger girl's tail and yanked the bar maid away like a spoiled child.  
  
She glanced back at Cloud. "Thought I'd save you some time. That's her _big_ pickup line. Let's go, airhead."  
  
"_Aww_! Ko_to_!" she whined, voice fading into the roar of the bar.  
  
Cloud stared after them with a disinterested look and ran a slim finger along the outside rim of his mug. His taste for the stuff was less than enthusiastic. Its flavor was terrible and he couldn't get drunk off it so what was the point? He glanced about the tavern, garnet eyes sweeping the room over the top of his dark glasses.  
  
Low level demons for the most part. Weaklings you'd see in the stands at the Dark Tournaments; blood thirsty only because they could spill none themselves.  
  
Cloud slid the glasses back up, knowing that he need not hide his eyes in the Makai, but years in the Ningenkai had made the summer wear, into casual wear for him. After all, the excuse 'They're just contacts' only will worked so many times.  
  
"Dark Day, I hate bars," he mumbled.  
  
"Then why come to one?"  
  
Cloud glanced sidelong at the speaker, startled she could even hear him over the chaos of the tavern. He was pleasantly surprise to see the speaker was a more humanoid demon. Her back was to him, one heavy combat boot propped against a nearby table. Her clothes were comfortable, form fitting so they weren't in the way, loose enough not to hamper her movement. Just like his.  
  
Her silky golden brown hair was hacked short at the neck; a worn white head band circled her forehead. Cloud's eyes were drawn to the delicate curve of her back, exposed by a skin tight black turtle neck. Slung over her shirt was a blood red vest of heavy crimson material and her jet black pants were belted up by at least three thick leather belts. Two, twin blades were strapped across her lower back in plain view while she knocked back a goblet of what looked like..._chai tea_?  
  
Cloud tipped his head, amused.  
  
"For the unique and interesting people you run into?" he drawled lightly, finger trailing across the rim of the cup.  
  
He felt the girl grin and her shoulders shook slightly with a small laugh. She smoothly let her boot slide to the floor with a thump and adjusted something about her clothing. Then she turned around to face him.  
  
Cloud fought not to look startled.  
  
She was probably beautiful; he could see it in the slender arch of her neck and the elegant curve of her jaw and lips through the cloth covering the entire lower half of her face. The hack, slash job on her hair made her bangs hang low in her eyes, curtaining them from his sight, but he felt they were amused.  
  
"I'll drink to that," she chuckled. Cloud felt a smile threaten to pull at the corner of his mouth as she stood and hooked a foot around her chair, kicking it to the table side. She seated herself backwards on the seat, long legs straddling the back of the chair, elbows propped on the table top.  
  
"So what's so bad about bars?" she wanted to know, eyes glinting obscurely from under the veil of hair.  
  
Cloud reached back to sweep his own hair out of his eyes. "I have bad associations with them?"  
  
"Such as, if I may be so bold?"  
  
"Too many admirers?"  
  
"Poor boy," she sympathized. Suddenly she slung a hand across her brow in a mock dramatic way, mimicking him apparently. "I look too good. Oh why me?" Somehow she maintained a cool monotone through the entire episode and still made it sound funny.  
  
Cloud consented to the hit and raised his hands in submission. "I don't like attention, alright."  
  
The girl snorted softly and peered into her goblet. "Yes, I know the feeling."  
  
Cloud felt strangely drawn to her as she adjusted the bindings on her arms, also similar to his. Her slow, drawling voice was familiar and comforting somehow. This troubled Cloud. He didn't like to feel comforted. Comfortable as possible physically, yes, but not comforted. Not relaxed comforted, not vulnerable comforted. Her voice had become a key and all his defenses were voice activated.

Cloud's alarms were beginning to go off. Why did he feel this way? What was she doing to him?  
  
"So," she continued, tawny eyes flitting up to meet his. Cloud resisted the strangest urge to divert his gaze. That was an old habit he'd long since gotten out of. Even this little slip set off his instincts. Was it paranoia or something very real?  
  
The girl ran her finger lightly along the rim of her mug. "Did you come here looking for someone? You look like a fighter to me..." She let her words han in the air expectantly waiting for his name.  
  
The wanted shadowkai lowered one of his folded arms to his hip holster, fingers slipping around his left side handgun.  
  
"Darien," he lied, point blank. It was the old alias he'd used in the human world. Even a lie detector wouldn't pick it up.  
  
The young woman seemed to smile as she leaned back in her seat. Cloud didn't miss how her hands slipped under the table as she shook her head. Soft gold, ocher hair slipped into cat-like hazelnut eyes as she turned their amused, piercing gaze upon him.  
  
"Liar."  
  
He had to give it to her...she was perceptive _and_ fast.  
  
Cloud had gone for his gun, but somehow sensing his intentions the girl lunged across the table, hand whipping back to yank her short blade from the back sheath.  
  
Both fighters snapped out of perception and were instantly intertwined on the seat. Cloud thrashed, mind briefly wondering how _she_ was the one on top while futilely attempting to pull his gun free of his holster. Her inner thighs were preventing this magnificently because she was straddling his mid-riff and therefore sitting on his gun arm.  
  
His free arm was not 'free' per say because he was busy using it to keep her wrist pinned against the back of the seat and not drawing her remaining blade. He'd managed to disarm her of the first one and her other hand was being used to brace herself against the edge of the table of prevent them from both taking a tumble beneath it.  
  
To anyone watching it looked like they were just having themselves a bit of fun and not embroiled in mortal combat, compacted into a two feet of space between a table and back of cushioned couch.  
  
"I finally tracked your ass down!" hissed the masked woman while still attempting to reach her blade. "Took me almost a century to find you! Quit squirming and hold still!" This last part was snapped in frustration as the dark angel managed to foil her attempts to use her weapon on him. He was too strong; she couldn't get her wrist free.  
  
"Sorry but that seems like a _bad_ idea just about now," he grunted, while vainly attempting to buck the deceptively slender girl off his abdomen. She snorted and clamped her thighs tighter about his poor middle, discouraging his endeavor.  
  
She tipped her head slightly as if taking note of something. "Ahh. I see we've gotten over the nice, polite dark angel. Turned bad ass while I had my back turned, Cloudhunter?"  
  
Those words hit him like a ton of bricks and left the dazed dark angel breathless in stunned realization. "_Huh_?! Wait! How do you-," Cloud sputtered, eyes going wide.  
  
His attacker grinned behind the mask and managed to twist her hand free get a grip around his throat, choking him. "Know your true-name?! Easy. Because Karasu used it in front of me, _remember_?"  
  
Cloud was stunned. His entire brain locked down at this slap of information. He knew only three living people that knew his true-name. One knew Cloud would kill him on sight and avoided him like the plague. The second was probably in the depths of the Makai jacking shiny things from other people. So, that left only the third living person and that was the one person he'd actually trusted after years of solitude.  
  
_-And now she's trying ram a knife down my throat!? Something doesn't add up_.-  
  
Since his brain was in lockdown, the part that was supposed to tell him he was choking, temporarily forgot its job and the words slipped involuntarily from Cloud's lips. He was disgusted to hear shock and hurt in his voice and wished his stupid brain was a bit more efficient. It would have spared him the humiliation.  
  
"S-_Shizuru_?"  
  
**. . .  
**  
"_What_!? It's gone already!?"  
  
"I didn't even see the primary security grid flare yet!"  
  
"Hot _damn_ this guy's good!"  
  
"_SHUTTUP_!!!"  
  
Vergil Orion was a respectable man...cat...neko-oni...whatever. Yes he was. Brilliant and unquestionably one of the best Netherworld security code programmers in history. In one millennia only one man, one youkai had ever dared to defeat his masterful systems, his perfects grids and traps. Oh it was rush! To watch as the alarms blared and the guards, well trained, the best the Reikai and Makai had to offer all scrambled in a panic.  
  
Thrilling.  
  
Now most youkai would be in tears having put so much effort into a near damn unbreakable security system only to have it be broken in a matter of moments. But not Orion. No, Vergil was nearly dancing a river dance so elated was he.  
  
Ahh! The _challenge_! The _thrill_!  
  
His long spotty cat's tail lashed about in excitement, frizzing out in his absolute adrenaline rush. His weathered, leopard patterned face was split in a wide, fanged grin as alarms sounded all around and watch-girls dashed about in a panic.  
  
"And Youko returns they cry!" crowed the ancient security master, cackling inanely and bouncing about the main security room, drawing odd stares from many of the Reikai watch-girls.

They scowled at the neko from their stations at their computers and grids but glumly acknowledged that there was nothing they could do. He was the best of the best and if that kitsune rouge was getting through the systems it wasn't because of the old man's mistakes, it was because Youko happened to be just that good.  
  
Orion was mad. Yes mad, but he was a talented mad fool.

He worked and plotted and molded his new security systems. Wonderful, artful, sneakily devised traps and subtle sensors so intricate that none but a perfectionist, OCD patient could possible create. Not to mention two thousands years of experience as a thief himself before being employed as a code-writer.  
  
It was thrilling for the old ex-thief to see a youngster so easily bypassing his own skills. Ahh, yes. Watching Youko breeze though his security was almost as exhilarating as stealing from Enma's own vault all those years ago. The new King of Thieves was a much more deserving candidate for the title.  
  
Vergil had nearly burst into tears upon hearing the boy had been hunted down. It put an ache in his old heart to know that the members of the light- fingered community were so ill-favored. Not to mention how infernally bored he'd be without Youko to crack his security. All the other wannabe thieves usually died four layers into the system's outer defenses.  
  
When news of the Dark Tournament had reached him...  
  
Let just say every watch-girl in the whole security wing knew about the fox's return twenty odd seconds after it had been aired. Old Vergil had lungs on him like no other.  
  
With pride like that of a father, he delicately picked up the big red phone and dialed Koenma's number. (333-011) All the watch-girls groaned and waited for the line.  
  
"Sir, the King of Thieves has struck again," Orion said primly, chest swelling out like a mother hen.  
  
One particularly high-strung watch-girl banged her pink hued head against a computer keyboard, upsetting several large mugs of coffee. The girls around her patted her back in sympathy. The pinkette was the head watch-girl, the security equivalent of Botan, the head ferry-girl and Grim Reaper. The sound of her skull on the computer was becoming a regular around here.  
  
Orion hung up and grinned at the forlorn group of watch-girls. The pinkette seemed to be having a small seizure; too much coffee Vergil guessed and sat down on the nearest table.  
  
"Message machine. Said the Kid was in a meeting with his father or something, but Enma should know about it in a few minutes."  
  
All the girls cringed and clung to one another in fear. Vergil grinned and amiably fished a toffee from a small candy tray he'd insisted on bringing in, unwrapped the brightly colored sweet and popped it in his mouth. He smiled, swaying good-naturedly back and forth, oblivious to the terror- stricken watch-girls behind him.  
  
In _three_..._two_..._one_...  
  
_**KABOOOM!!!!**_  
  
"_Ooh_! Sounds like he blew up the storage wing!" grinned the mad old security writer. His long cat-like ears twitched with excitement. "Poor ogres are gonna have a _devil_ of a time cleaning _that_ up! Hee hee"  
  
The phone rang.  
  
The pinkette, Noana by name, looked ready to sob as she picked it up. "Head watch-girl here."  
  
"Umm...can you take this up with one of my underlings?" rasped Koenma's voice from the other end.

If Noana hadn't known any better she would have thought he sounded ill, mortally exhausted even. She made a confused face at the other girls and point meaningfully at the phone, mouthing, 'Koenma'. The girls waited with bated breath.

"My father allowed me out of the meeting for only a moment to deal with it," Koenma continued, tiredly. "I have to get back quickly."  
  
There was a shuffling and the phone was handed to someone else. A voice cleared and a dignified, male voice spoke into the receiver. "Koenma-sama is in a meeting as of now. This is Jorge here. We'll be faxing you the paperwork. Be sure the printer had exactly four-hundred-ninety-two sheets. We'd like it back by the end of the week. Thank you."  
  
Noana hung up and shrugged at the other girls. "Don't know. Koenma sounded tired. Had a meeting with his dad so he forgot to punish us. Cept all the paperwork..."  
  
"Meeting with his father?" cackled Vergil suddenly. Everyone stared at him. "Sure, sure. A meeting I'm sure. Youko would feel bad if he knew how deficiently he'd timed his break in. Poor Junior. Hee _hee_!"  
  
All the watch-girls exchanged disturbed looks at this. One girl glanced at the screen showing the room where the priceless 'Heaven's Fire' stone had once rested. Upon the velvet pedestal was set a small piece of parchment, with neat flowing writing.  
  
_Koenma  
  
Give my regards to your father.  
  
-Youko_

****

**$%$%$%$ %$%$%$%$**  
  
**_ -Old nightmares scare the worst..._**  
  
**$%$%$%$ %$%$%$%$  
**

"blah" : speaking  
  
=blah= : Onishin (demon speak; I only use this if one of the parties present does not speak Onishin, like a human, if they're all demons and their all in the Makai with no human about assume that their speaking Onishin)  
  
-_blah_- : thinking  
  
_-"blah"-_ : telepathic speaking (mind to mind)

**PS:** The song Cloud sings is by a band called Ra. Dun know the name, but its very good. I get is stuck in my head all the time.   
  
{Me} There WILL be more Youko, Hiei, Yuusuke ass-kicking, I just have to set up the plot properly first. THEN I shall release the all powerful Reikai Tantei to beat up the bad guys! MUH HAHA!!  
  
{Cloud8.9} Yeah. Sure. Anyway, she finally got around to making this stupid thing. Enjoy her pathetic attempts at making an actual plot! {gasps} She'll probably just screw it up in the end, but whatever. I think it's real funny that it's a Kurama story, but I see no Kurama in the first chapter.  
  
{Me} Shuttup! I'll have you know he'll come in, but for the sake of the fic he can't be here right now this instant. In the meantime you can amuse yourselves with the antics of Jin and Touya. Sorry. I HAD to slip them in somewhere. So, good, bad, hate it, love it? Flames are accepted as long as you explain in detail how I can improve, otherwise I will be toasting smores tonight.  
  
{Cloud8.9} Yum. I'll get the marshmallows.  
  
{Me} YOU JERK!!!! {screaming and beating is heard} Thanks for reading! R&R!!

-Later dayz!!


	3. Vendetta

**Disclaimer**: Screw you!!  
  
**Story thus far:** Cloud and Shizuru have been...violently reunited. Youko is alive and well, jacking stuff from people. Jin and Touya are tracking down someone for someone else.  
  
Enjoy chapter 3!  
  
**Vendetta**  
  
**. . .  
**  
"Why?"  
  
It was the only thing Cloud could possibly think of to put his current emotions into audible form. Betrayal, confusion, anger. Yes, it was all there in one single word and best of all Cloud only need spit it out and clamp his mouth shut again. This was a plus because he didn't think he trusted his throat to work properly quite yet (not that it mattered seeing how her hand was clamped about his neck). The human girl's eyes, the warm color of honey – though they were the farthest thing from warm – lifted with amusement. She paused, relaxing her strangle hold on Cloud's wind pipe just slightly and only studied the blond underneath her.  
  
"Why? Because I wanted to know something," she said simply.  
  
Cloud chose this moment to get creative. Jerking his entire body weight to the right he shoved himself off the back of the seat and into the space underneath the table. Shizuru, sitting on top of him, was smashed against the edge of the table top and scraped off him like a horse rider into a low hanging branch.  
  
But she was quick.

The moment Cloud hit the floor he had both his guns out but the human girl had rolled under the table second after him, drawing her blades simultaneously so she was now laying lengthways on top of Cloud, her long daggers criss-crossing his throat.  
  
She could feel the hard edges of his two hand guns digging into her belly, angled to take out her spine along with any vital organs that got in the way. His dark blood hued gaze locked on her pale tawny eyes, feathers of golden brown hair splaying across her forehead in mimicry of the impossibly golden spikes dusting her opponent's skin. They sat like that for a long moment, body to body, weapon to flesh, eyes locked.  
  
She wasn't surprised that the slender looking youkai was a solidly built fighter under all the layers of dark clothing. Her memory served her well and Cloud was still as good looking as ever.  
  
His flawless, if not slightly pale, skin glowed with a strange ethereal life that seemed to outshine all human existence. Soft, wild strands of sun gold hair piled messily atop his head, framing his face and offsetting a pair almond shaped, garnet eyes. An annoyingly admirable example of male beauty. (Though this changed nothing. Hell she hung around with Hiei and Kurama and they were nothing short of heart wrenching) Then again, of course he was. He was immortal, similar to the most powerful of demons, never aging until the day they died in battle. But somehow Cloud was...different. Living out of time.  
  
He hadn't aged a day since she'd last seen him, over a century ago.  
  
"Your weapons," Shizuru murmured, the outline of her lips moving gently beneath her face mask. "Human made hands guns. I saw the runes carved along the inside of the barrels when you drew. Powerful stuff. Anything less than a low A class demon would be toast with one shot."  
  
"Their names are Ash and Raven," he said smoothly. "Are we all properly introduced?" The twin guns dug into her stomach, making her grunt softly.  
  
Cloud's eyes didn't change though his tongue supplied the slick sarcasm. He'd reined his emotions back behind a mask of calm indifference and Shizuru could see the familiar, set of his lips and eyes. He wasn't going to let anything through. He had a poker face only Kurama could match and a gaze few but Hiei could meet head on. Shizuru smiled, thinly.  
  
"So. If you were armed so powerfully, why didn't you kill him?"  
  
"You mean Karasu?" It was more statement than question. Cloud's face was unreadable, save the preset look of cocky detachment in his eyes.  
  
"Yes, Karasu. Why didn't you kill the sadistic bastard?" she demanded, eyes cold with an icy rage that burned worse than fire.  
  
Her blades pressed harder against the vulnerable arch of his throat and the two gun hammers snapped back in time. Shizuru felt her bitter hatred rise up in her. She wouldn't have minded slitting his throat, but she just couldn't do that. No. Not until her vengeance was complete.  
  
Besides. As much as she hated to admit it, Cloud was her only chance at getting what she wanted.  
  
Course he was dangerous as hell.  
  
More dangerous than she could easily take care of. Not to mention he'd changed. She didn't know how much, but this was not the same verilee who'd stood with her on the deck of that cruise ship to the Burning Islands. This was not the uncertain dark angel who shied away from her trust, averting his gaze and speaking in a whisper. This was a new creature. Of this she was certain. How new...was impossible to tell.  
  
Cloud's smug façade slipped into a sad, yet unfeeling look of detachment and answered evenly, voice measured and monotonous. "That is none of your business."  
  
"_My_ business?" she repeated. There a hysterical edge to her voice. "_My_ _business_?! That's a good one! Of course it's not my business!! It was _your_ business, but guess what?! You screwed up and now it _is_ my business! _Deal with it, Cloudhunter!_"  
  
"Stop calling me that!" Cloud hissed under his breathe, voice tight.  
  
Shizuru shifted on top of him to straddle the blonde immortal. Cloud cringed inwardly as her thighs slid against his hips making him extremely conscious of their body positions. But he didn't allow a stupid thing like hormones to clog his head. His Ash and Raven followed her belly through the entire thing, never giving her an inkling of a chance to try anything.  
  
"Why?" she teased, drawling lazily, blades tickling his neck dangerously. "Hit a nerve, Cloudy-boy? Do I remind you of someone you don't like?"  
  
"Why do you suddenly care about Karasu?" Cloud inquired, dodging the question. "Why is he your business, suddenly? Why is it _my_ fault?"  
  
Shizuru smirked, perhaps he hadn't changed as much as she'd thought. Here he was, ducking the queries again. He grunted softly, trying to slide out from under her a bit. Shizuru was having none of it and tightened her thighs about his midrift again, blades threatening.  
  
"_That_ is none of _your_ concern," she told him evenly.  
  
"Then I don't need to answer your questions," he said coldly. Staring into those familiar, beautiful, honey hued eyes Cloud was filled with a growing bitterness. All these years. All those years...he'd thought...been foolish enough to hope...  
  
Cloud jammed the barrel of his handguns against the flat firmness of her navel. Those cold amber eyes thinned to slits and he felt a bead of blood run from his neck. The girl's face was inches from his. He could actually smell the faint fragrance of pines from the high mountains, ice and clean air. Then there was a fading, aged scent. One of a human girl from the Ningenkai. A piece of her past fading fast away from her.  
  
"I don't need an answer straight off anyway," she remarked, smirking.  
  
"Then why are you here?" he frigidly demanded.  
  
Shizuru's lips curved into a calculating smile. "To ask you on a hunting party," she said, voice almost a purr. "I want Karasu dead. I want _you_ to do it."  
  
Her uppermost blade moved up to kiss the underside of his chin, cold steel caressing his pale skin as she bent over to bring her lips against his ear. Her soft, golden brown tresses brushed across his face. The dark angel shivered as warm breath blew near the sensative skin, soft cloth caressing the side of his face, stirring several rogue strands of blond hair.  
  
"And I won't take 'no' as an answer, Cloudhunter."  
  
The sudden silence was not...'golden' per say. More...dark and velvety black...like the interior of a coffin for example. Cloud's teeth were grinding very slowly and painfully, his angelic face set in a perpetually pissed off look of icy rage. Cold anger was harsh, but she supposed he was fresh out of hot anger because you needed passion for that...  
  
and for passion you needed a heart...  
  
Demons don't have hearts.  
  
Cloud obviously wasn't used to being told what to do. And more off, he obviously didn't like the potential feeling had he might have to obey. Shizuru had dug up every detail on the shadowkai that her own experience with him and that of the other Tantei could supply. She knew what he was, where he was from, and most importantly...  
  
How to get to him.  
  
"Hey, and what's going on under here?"  
  
A perverted gravel filled voice chuckled as an ugly head was thrust under the edge of the table top. Shizuru and Cloud's faces snapped up toward the speaker simultaneously lashing out with their weapons. Ash's hilt smashed the youkai's bulky nose in while Shizuru's sword edge carved him a second mouth on his pouchy left cheek. Yowling, the intruder staggered away, drawing stares and laughter.  
  
Distraction averted, Shizuru returned her blade to Cloud's throat while his Ash slid comfortably back to her navel. Much better. Now they could talk like civil people.  
  
"Karasu is not my problem anymore, Shizuru. Why are you so intent on making sure I get saddled with your problems?" he demanded in a painfully controlled voice. "Why come to me? I have enough on my plate as it is."  
  
"Cuz' I think you're anorexic?" she snapped sarcastically. "Does this have a point? You do what I say or I cut you till you die. Not many options to choose from, blondie."  
  
Cloud's lip curled back from his oddly prominent incisors in the most condescending leer she'd ever been unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of.  
  
...And she'd been receiving a lot since the day she'd left the Ningenkai, so this was truly epic for her. The masked girl felt the most unpleasant sensation of fear slither down her spine and burrow into her gut like a cold writhing serpent. Suddenly she wanted to get away from him. She didn't want to touch this creature with a ten foot pole! She was absolutely terrified of this ruby-eyed being.  
  
Shizuru resisted the almost unbearable urge to leap away from her prey but bit her lip and hung in there. Refusing to give in was the first step. Now all she had to do was stick it out. The spell wasn't held by will, it was just a natural aura that dark angel's gave off. They could trigger instinctive survival synapses in the mind of others and make them believe they were terrified out of their head. Shadowkai need only relax their hold on it and let the aura run wild, causing all the foes weaker than them instantly mad with fear.  
  
Shizuru cursed mentally. This fear that nearly made her lose face meant that Cloud was, in fact, stronger than her. Or at a higher level by some degree. However, her resistance to his Fear Shadows hypnosis was wearing off. Cloud's eyes, which had glowed the sickening color of some hellish gateway, faded back to a dark garnet. She smirked and pressed the flat of her blade against his throat and brought her face uncomfotably close to his.  
  
"No. I don't think so. Seen it once and I'm not impressed," she told him, eyes dancing with a small measure of victory. Cloud's eyes became feral slits and the smallest threads of shadow danced over his shoulders, like something dark on his back was writhing beneath him. Shizuru watched his eyes intently, waiting.  
  
"So you want me to kill Karasu? You won't tell me why, but it's safe to say you'll probably kill me once the job is through." His eyes flashed. "If you can."  
  
"Uh-huh," she sang sweetly in her lazy drawling voice. "I've trained as demon-hunter. I can handle you fine."  
  
"You can take higher classed demons?" Cloud asked a ghost of smirk playing across his face.  
  
Shizuru smiled. "Who's pinning whom?"  
  
There was flash, a shift of weight and a blur of darkness and suddenly Shizuru was looking up at a twin set of garnet eyes, inches above her own. A neatly identical set of hand guns were pressed still tight against her belly, only now Cloud was comfortably seated atop her, long legs easily straddling her abdomen. The long loose folds of his trench coat spread out from his body like a dark pool, contrasting wildly with his pale face and shockingly golden hair.  
  
"Shit. You're still pretty limber after century," she remarked, lidded eyes shifting up to regard him casually. Looking him up and down.  
  
Cloud ignored the possibly sexual implication and shoved the two lookalike barrels harder against her smoothly defined abs. (Oh come on. It was hard to miss at this range.)  
  
"Don't," he said sharply, his temper edging through. "I really don't have time for your vengeful vendetta. I've told Koenma, the shinobi, the Rift Town bounty rings, Dark Faerie and any other powers that be to just let me be and that applies to you too." The two guns glinted maliciously in the light. "So leave me alone."  
  
"Hmm. Alone. Well it's done wonders for you personality, blondie. Just wanted you to know. The people skills. Mmm, great so far," she informed him with a mock approving nod.  
  
"Damn you!" he snapped. It wasn't a cuss, it was command. "You show up out of nowhere, try to shove a knife through my chest, tell me I'm responsible for everyone's problems somehow, then try to make me go after the one demon I never want to see again and _now_ you want to talk _people skills_? Do I sense a hint of _irony_ in my words?" hissed the immortal from his vantage point on top of the girl.  
  
"Look. Whether you think you like it or not you're going to help me kill Karasu," Shizuru told him voice cutting at Cloud's ever shortening fuse like a rusty knife, slowly, agonizingly sawing into the dark angel's patience. Her face lifted nearer to Cloud's getting right up close so their eyes were so near it was almost intimate in a violet, hateful way. "You know you want to, Cloudhunter."  
  
"Shuttup."  
  
Raven's barrel was suddenly at her forehead.  
  
The movement startled him. Involuntary, totally out of his control had his hand placed the weapon against her skull. Shizuru, however seemed not to register the new threat and pressed further, a wicked glee in her eyes.  
  
"You want to kill me? Don't kid yourself, Cloud. You're scared to do it. Frightened you'll prove something!"  
  
Cloud shoved her head back against the floor, the back of her skull banging the wooden planking. "Shuttup!"  
  
"You're afraid aren't you? That if you go he'll screw with you're head and break you again?" Shizuru whispered savagely, pressing her blade against his neck, just as a reminder. Her face drew closer to his, her tawny eyes glittering maliciously with a new cold emotion as Cloud squirmed under the emotional needles she slid home. "That's it isn't it? You're that scared of the bastard, huh? Afraid to die?"  
  
BAM!!!  
  
The smoke drifted slowly from the mouth of the Raven's barrel in a thin, steamy trail. Cloud's hands were still steady, though the worn leather on his knuckle guards creaked and groaned under the pressure of his clenched fists. His traitorous finger was also steady, the one that had tightened on the trigger and pumped the single bullet into the flooring a centimeter from Shizuru's skull. Garnet eyes glittered hatefully, drilling his absolute distain into her body like a cold stake.  
  
"I...hate you." The words dripped from his mouth as poison. "Go straight to hell Shizuru and by all means try to take me with you. Go ahead. Try. Because I have no problem filling your head full of metal you raving bitch." His voice was silk soft, but retained anything but gentle comfort. He quietly murmured it to her like a lover's secret or an assassin's promise.  
  
Shizuru's skin crawled as Cloud's loathing tainted his aura, turning it dark. His energy built through his skin; she could sense it powerfully at such close range, darkness boiling up in his slender body like hot oil. He was surely on the verge of transformation his fists were so tight on those guns she was certain the other one was going to go off and drill a shot into her gut, but he didn't lose his cool again.  
  
"That," she said. "Is exactly what I need from you. _That_ right there. Use that."  
  
"What are you talking about?" he spat, eyes glittering, almost glowing with his obvious urge to do her bodily harm.  
  
"That hatred. That bloodlust. You had it for Karasu once," she whispered feverishly. "Use it again and help me right all the wrongs he's made since you gave him his powers."  
  
"Damn you! Stop talking!" Cloud snarled; there was pain in his face, in his eyes.  
  
The way his eyes darted back and forth as if looking for an escape, the panicked expression of guilt, hatred, pride, anger, grief, fear and confusion all roiling together and tearing at old scars. She could see the unhealed wounds she'd ripped into with her words. Good. She didn't want him to be comfortable. She didn't even want to be friendly and _then_ betray him; she wanted to rag on him right _now_. Make him hurt until he knew pain intimately as she did.  
  
"You know you have to. Before you were just chasing him in rage, but as soon as the rage was gone you decided you didn't care anymore? All those lives he took meant nothing? I guess his attempt to kill everything that I loved meant nothing to you?" Shizuru continued.  
  
She was pretty sure she could take at least one shot from that gun of his, if he aimed at her stomach anyway.  
  
"You still _are_ a shadowkai. The Unlit spawned you. Sorry. Sadism is hereditary."  
  
"_STOP_ _IT_!! Shuttup!!" Cloud shouted, voice lost in the roar of the tavern.  
  
He withdrew the gun from the floor and reached up to clutch his pale head as if the victim of a sudden migraine. His beautiful features contorted in pain, the old scars tearing open under her words. She could practically smell the proverbial 'blood in the water'. She'd gotten to him. He was confused. He didn't know what to think in this maelstrom of emotions laid bare. This was a vulnerability few but her and Karasu had seen before.  
  
Perfect.  
  
She reached up and snatched a handful of his jacket, hauling herself up in his face.  
  
"Then help me kill him," she hissed, her breath hot across his face. "You own me and Kurama that much."  
  
Looking into his eyes, staring deeply into those ruby filled pools...it was as if something broke.  
  
Shizuru was certain nothing about Cloud had actually shattered; he was too strong for that, but she was satisfied that she'd managed to fracture something. The leather of his gloves moaned like a pair of bloodthirsty wraiths as Cloud slowly, slowly removed his deadly twin hand guns from her body. She knew she'd be sporting a bruise, but it was well worth it for the damage she'd done in his head.

"You made Karasu what he is now you're going to undo it." Shizuru rose to a kneeling position and gentle caught Cloud's hands, fingers closing around his, covering his hands against the two guns. She leaned close, eyes narrowed at Cloud stared hard at the ground without really seeing it. "Until that murderer is dead you'll do exactly as I say. Until you've repaid me and everyone for all the blood you and Karasu have spilled I own your ass."

Cloud opened his mouth, angry words boiling to his tongue but the human girl quickly snapped a hand over his lips, fingers closing over his mouth. He froze, garnet eyes stareing into her calculating topaz eyes, her hand was gentle on his lips but she might as well have slapped him across the mouth.

"You do exactly what I say," she repeated softly. "You know you owe it to me, Cloudhunter."

Cloud hadn't come closer to murdering someone in coldblood for centuries. His hands literally shook in rage as her fingers slipped from his face, the sensative pads of her finger lingering mockingly as she drew back from him. Red rage seething beneath the indifferant countenance and the shadowkai holstered the weapons securely at his thighs and slid back up into his seat from beneath the table. His face was blank, totally indifferent, bored even with her presence. However, Shizuru could sense the anger, self-hatred, loathing and hot pain beneath his fascia.  
  
He was pissed.  
  
But there was noting he could do about it.  
  
Shizuru sat up and comfortably ordered a meal she could digest without being poisoned and smiled at her new partner. He shot her a chilling look at even Shizuru could not meet. His eyes had always unsettled her. She could look at him normally, but not right now. That gaze...was enough to steal the breath from your soul.  
  
"Know this, Shizuru. The moment this is over and Karasu is dead..." Pause. "Expect to be next."  
  
"Fine," she drawled, faking indifference. "If you think you've properly repaid me by then. It's all about getting even, remember that Cloud."

His loathing stare averted and she relaxed only a bit, feeling better as the waitress came back. The girl took one look at Cloud's expression and patted Shizuru on the arm as it that were comforting. Her expression clearly said 'boyfriend troubles?' The human girl snorted and focused on the plate of French fry-like orange and golden brown strips the serving girl set down in front of her.  
  
The masked girl delicately selected one and hooked a finger over the edge of her mask, drawing it down.  
  
Cloud's garnet eyes swung around to assess her quickly.  
  
Other than the colder glint in her eyes and the hard line of her mouth, she too hadn't aged a day. The only other noticeable difference was a small feather shaped burn was emblazoned against her pale left cheek; otherwise, she looked mostly the same. Cloud felt his body begin to relax out of instinct to the face he'd taken solace in for so long. Jerking out of it he just as quickly filled that soothing with hatred and looked away quickly.  
  
Shizuru, unaware of his mental struggle, nibbled the fry. It was good. She cast a smirk at her surly companion.  
  
"Hungry?" she asked temptingly. She waggled the piece of food at the immortal who finally acknowledged her existence and looked at her with a patronizing expression.  
  
"I don't eat." The biting reply contained all the warmth of a stabbing icicle.  
  
This was news. Shizuru liked this.  
  
"Good less rations spent out of my pocket." She ate the fry. "Now let's get down to business."

** . . .**

****  
  
Jin was aware that something was wrong even in his sleep.  
  
Instantly sky blue eyes flew open and shot about the room, shooting around in his head without actually moving. If there was someone in the room it was best they didn't know he was awake.  
  
He slowly let his breath ease in and out, keeping his breathing rate at the same slow pace as to not give away his new state of consciousness. His long elfin ears easily detected the sound of footfalls with in the room. Quick footsteps, soft and guarded, someone was tiptoeing across the floor, he could tell by the sound.  
  
'Thud...thud...thud...'  
  
There was only one point of contact for each step instead of the 'th-thud...th-thud...th-thud' of a heel to toe step.  
  
Touya didn't walk like that. He walked toe-heel like all ninja were trained to do, besides that; Touya was so quiet Jin could rarely hear him unless Touya chose not to hide himself. And the Ice Master certainly had no reason to hide himself now.  
  
Jin waited, body remaining relaxed yet perfectly prepared to attack. His ears gave a small excited twitch and he cursed silently as the footsteps halted. They had either seen the movement or been distracted by something else. Jin forced his tell-tale elfin ears to remain still, wincing inwardly. Touya had told his time and time again to get that under control. You see his ears often twitched a millisecond before he attacked, giving him away.  
  
The mysterious footfalls resumed. They were drawing softer, moving toward his side of the room. Great. Now they were interested in making sure he didn't wake up ever. Well too bad, mister, you're feet are just a bit too noisy.  
  
Jin's blue eyes flickered toward the wall he was facing. The light streaming through the window behind him cast a pale puddle on the wall. A blotch rose up behind him on the wall, arm lifting up. There was a flicker on the wall.  
  
A knife!  
  
He tensed, timed it, perfectly as the lifting blade reached it zenith.  
  
"GOTCHA!!" Jin shouted.  
  
He snapped out of perception and was instantly sitting on the shoulders of the night-time attacker, knees crushing their face while he seized a handful of the demon's hair in a death grip. Jin smiled mischievously as his new 'riding' partner reeled about helplessly, gasping and sputtering until he crashed into a wall. Jin chose that moment to hop off the unfortunate individual and land upside down in the air, grinning like a jester.  
  
The intruder groaned and picked himself up off the floor, moaning...very pathetically.  
  
"Moind tellin' a gent why yur pokin' aroun' in 'is room in th' middle o' th' noight?" Jin inquired, swooping down to pick up the nasty looking dagger the assassin had dropped. It was clean so obviously the little killer hadn't gotten to Touya...well truth be told he'd been dead if he'd gone after Touya first. Speaking of whom...  
  
Jin glanced at his friend's side of the room. The other bed was empty. Probably a good thing; Touya was so strung lately he probably would have frozen this idiot to the wall no questions asked.  
  
"ARGH!!" shrieked a voice.  
  
Oops. Forgot to pay attention there. Jin swerved and ducked the fist swung at his head before hopping lightly to the ground and grinning at the youkai who stumbled across the floor, his own momentum throwing him off balance. The other demon crash into the opposite wall and fell over, feet sticking up at odd angles. Scratching the back of his head ruefully the wind demon sweatdropped slightly, looking embarrassed.  
  
"Sorry 'bout tha'. Forgot yu' were there an' tryin' t' knock me off an' all tha' hoop-ha. Anyway..."  
  
Jin threw a hand out. Instantly all the air in the room leapt to his command and suddenly moved to become a violent wind strong enough to pin the demon against the wall. The red-head smiled innocently at the youkai and casually jumped into the air, hovering crisscross applesauce a couple feet over the ground.  
  
"So if yu' loike livin' in th' world withou' ghosties an' dead men I sugges' yu' spill all th' why's who's and how's tha' yu' decided t' try an' stick meh whoile I was sawin' logs and dreamin' o innocence?"  
  
There was a long awkward pause filled only by the whooshing of the wind and the panting of the trapped murderer. Finally the greasy looking youkai, twitching in a panicky spasm of fear, lifted a meek finger for a second and wetted his lips nervously.  
  
"Uhh...I...I...don't know what you just said...," stammered the demon who was shaking so badly he was ready to faint. "Y-your friend...b-buncha demons downstairs...the boss t-told me to do it."  
  
Jin cocked his head, frowning. Bunch of demons? Touya? In trouble? Not likely, but what had the Ice Master done to warrant such unwanted attention? He was a pro at lying low and if he didn't want to be seen or noticed people rarely took note of him. The wind elf frowned and stepped toward the pinned youkai, releasing him from the windy bindings.  
  
He held a finger in front of the youkai's nose.  
  
"Follow th' finger," he commanded in mock serious tone. The youkai nodded and trailed his captor's finger with his eyes as Jin waved his upraised digit slowly left and right, up and down, back and forth and...  
  
WHACK!!  
  
The youkai slumped to the ground unconscious from the powerful flick Jin had delivered directly into the center of his forehead. Jin doubled up laughing hysterically, floating in the air and rolling around with mirth. Touya (if he'd been there) would have called him ridiculous and juvenile, but that worked for Jin. Sobering up some what, the shinobi retrieved his cloak from his bed and rushed out the door in a flurry of breeze and hyperactive motion.  
  
With a whoop of exuberance he bounded onto the stairwell banister and swooped down the long handrail with perfect balance. Hooting all the way down, he cart-wheeled off the end and flounced (yes flounced) out of the hall and into the tavern, tossing his cloak about his shoulders and grinning toothily at the dumbstruck gaggle of now silent demons. The occupancy of the entire bar was either quietly attending their own business, staring at the strange flouncing demon, or – if you were a serving wench – eyeing the handsome redhead since he was possibly the most attractive creature in the room. The only other option of action was standing in a semi-circle of burly looking demons, all of whom were situated around a calmly seated Touya.  
  
The ice demon glanced up from the mug of herbal tea he was cradling and casually regarded his traveling partner.  
  
"Told yu'" he said in an uninterested monotone.

The other demons groaned, mumbled and cursed profanities as they began to pile coins, trinkets and money on the table top beside the ice demon who calmly continued to sip at his traditional morning beverage. Sweatdropping to the extreme Jin closed his jaw from where his chin had hit the floor and veritably charged his comrade's table.  
  
"An' wha' in th' noin hells was tha'?" he demanded, voice oddly squeaky.  
  
Touya stirred his drink with an impartial look and lifted a hand in greeting to his partner. "Morning Jin."  
  
"Marnin – _Aye_! Hold up! Dun change th' subject yu rott'n turncoatin' scuse fer a partner!!"  
  
Touya looked vaguely startled by his friend's outburst, lifting a slim brow in query. Jin was so slow to anger it was almost uncanny, so either he was in a bad mood or that measly little demon almost actually got him.  
  
Frowning very slightly Touya turned to his partner to ask him what was wrong but the wind demon did something he rarely did and cut him off. Planting one hand on the table he leaned across the space between them a jabbed a finger in Touya's direction.  
  
"Yer a crazy one Toy! Ravin madder 'n a jack rabbit playin' hookie!" he declared, stabbing at his comrade with his pointer finger of death, steadily making Touya lean farther back in his chair, face blank. All the while an angry stream of hyper fast speech was pouring out of the wind demon so quickly even Touya was hard pressed to understand it all.  
  
"Yu' dun send strange demon up t' a pal's room an' have 'em play _pin_ _cushion_ wit' a pointy knife, tha' cha don't! Worse th'n makin' thing's blow up in yur face or chasin' birds inta hurricanes, really, really it twas! There's only one thing worse than tha' an yu _know_ wha' tha' is?"  
  
Touya blinked.

"Hoo-kie?" he repeated slowly, not answering Jin question.  
  
The two shinobi stared at each other for the longest moment of awkward silence ever cast in either fiction or reality and stared, two pairs of blue eyes locked on one another. One pupiless pale blue and blank with confusion, the other bright cerulean and sparkling with...amusement?  
  
Jin burst out laughing so loudly anyone near by jumped or cringed at the sudden explosion. Touya made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat and looked away, shaking his head. Jin had already thrown himself into the seat across from his friend, smiling his universal smile of total carefree Jin-ish-ness. His ears twitched energetically before he chuckled and answered his own question while waving down a waitress.  
  
"Th' only thing worse than siccin' a pansy-ass youkai loike tha' inter me room is nah ordering me some breakfas' afterward." He sighed and shook his head in mock exasperation as the serving girl bowed and scuttled off to get the food. "What a jerk yu are sometimes, Touya."  
  
"Hmm..." was Touya's only reply as he lifted his cup to his lips as an excuse not to engage in idle morning chit-chat. Jin, however, caught the very slight quirk to the ice demon's mouth that he'd come to look for as a sign of his friend's amusement. Satisfied, the wind demon leaned back in his seat and yawned wide, stretching.  
  
"So why up so early?" Jin inquired, folding his arms over his stomach and looking at his friend. "We came in late enough tha' yu' could probably afford a few spare hours in th' sack."  
  
Touya shook his head. "You idiot. It's half an hour past dawn."  
  
Jin's mouth dropped for the second time that morning. "_Wha_?!"  
  
The slender, but striking ice youkai came the closest to an outright smile right there than he had the entire conversation. Placing his cup back on the table he cocked a brow at his shell-shocked friend and gave him a mock disapproving look.  
  
"That's what the bet was about. All the youkai last night saw you pass out and bet that one of their guys could sneak up there."  
  
"I did nah pass out!" protested the fire-haired demon indignantly.  
  
"I had to carry you upstairs."  
  
"Oh...so that's how I got up there..."  
  
Touya snorted in disbelief and resumed drinking his tea as the waitress dumped a clattering plate of food onto the table, smiling half friendly half suggestively at the two travelers. Jin grinned evilly at Touya who rolled his eyes toward some other point in the air, avoiding all eye contact.  
  
"By the way," Touya picked up after the girl had gone. "I didn't think they'd pull a knife on you. Sorry about that."  
  
Jin waved it away as he started to shovel food in his mouth. "N'nufink tay kin thoo ith a thupid thik lok thaf."  
  
Touya's nose wrinkled very slightly at his comrade's vacuum imitation. Jin ignored him and swallowed the lot with hardly a chew between mouthfuls.  
  
"I said: Not nothin' they kin do wit' a stupid thing loike tha. The knife I mean. Sides, he was probably thinkin' 'imself all smart, cut off a piece of clothin' or somethin' an' prove it t' th' lot o' yu, tha' he really did it."  
  
The Ice Master made a noncommittal noise but said nothing else. He was like that in the morning...and the afternoon...and evening...Jin continued to inhale his food.

{_poke_, _poke_, _poke_}

"Neh?" Jin paused, feeling something soft jabbing at his leg.  
  
"Excuse me...umm...you two are traveler-people right?" came a timid female voice.  
  
Jin twisted his head around to look down. His eyes found a very small winged girl peering up at them from the tavern floor. Her shining, overlarge eyes were pure jet black in her tawny furred face. Half fuzzy, half feathery wings hung, small and unusable from her tiny back. She blinked her inky eyes at Jin, whom, of the two, seemed to be the nicest. Grinning a small, innocent grin she turned on all the charm a toddler could posses.  
  
"I need some help...if it's not too much trouble, travel-people."  
  
"Loike wha', li'l lass?" Jin asked, grinning at the kawaii little youkai. Touya was inspecting his herbal tea but listening intently none the less.  
  
"My sisters are sick. I thought since you've been every where and anywhere you might knowees what t' do t' make them all better and bouncy!"she said cheerily, grinning hopefully up at him.   
  
Jin glanced up at Touya who made no readable silent reply in return.  
  
"Kay. What kind o' illness?" Jin asked, swiveling in his seat to lean down and look at her.  
  
"Dun know," she said childishly, frowning in serious contemplation. "Sick, sick. Father had it first, then Nami and Kath and me. Get all cold and coughs and hot. I got better firsts. Then father got mad at everything and marched off screaming. He took the axe so we think someone's going to die tonight. Sick, sick."  
  
No one was surprised by the demon child's casual regard to death. That was normal.  
  
"Dun sound too great does it, Touya?" Jin asked his friend, bright blue eyes turning like headlights on the frigid ice demon. Touya, however, knew what the Wind Master was really saying.  
  
"We'll go," Touya deadpanned. "We have nothing better to do."  
  
"You know my dad," piped up the little girl child. Touya finally looked at her, face still unreadable, but listening. "He was in your hunting party, 'member? Kara-kash?"  
  
Touya did remember and he didn't like the thought. If his memory served (and it always did. I think the ningen term was photographic memory...) then her father was the first one to come down with a severe cough during the extent of the hunt. Only hours after nearly catching up with their target's energy signature.  
  
Then several of the men in his party claimed Kara-kash had nearly been killed, by the target. Kara-kash was strong thought, probably the strongest in the group and quickly got the men back in pursuit. No matter though, soon the virus had spread through the entire group and no one was fit to give chase.  
  
"My father escaped your _big_ _**dangerous**_ bounty," the little girl declared proudly as was expected of youkai children. Kids were trained at a young age to praise their parents publicly at all times. If your sire or mother was weak you made sure no one else knew that. It was a survival instinct. "He got away," she continued loudly, drawing stares.  
  
_-Or was spared?-_ Touya thought, brows creasing just slightly.  
  
"Let's go see your father."

"_GOODIES!!!!!_" shreiked the little girl and danced away like a hyperactive marionette. Jin, delighted, followed suit while Touya considered whether or not knocking himself out on the table top would be preferable to the hole he'd just dug for himself. Just think...

Two hyperactive demons. One a child at heart, the other a real child.

Great...

  
**. . .**

**  
**  
"Botan? _Botan_? _**Botan**_!!!"  
  
The girl jerked up, waves of blue hair flying everywhere as she looked frantically back and forth.  
  
"_Ahh_! _What_!! No, I haven't seen him since-eh? Huh?"  
  
The piles of paper work and filing soared every which direction as the curly haired girl who'd spoken jumped back from the head ferry-girl. Botan blinked, confounded at the new comer who was dressed a fire red kimono to match ginger hair, offset by her dark blue eyes. She blinked slowly at the blushing Botan.  
  
The bluette, flustered, brushed away stray papers clinging to her face (she'd fallen asleep in them) and tried to smile at the red head.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry. Just dozed off a bit there. Heh heh. Umm, what was it you wanted?" she asked casually, picking several paper clips fro her azure tresses. The other girl paused a moment. Botan twitched very slightly, her smile nearly cracking as she figured that the redhead was probably thinking of all the interesting rumors flying about the head ferry girl. Geez. These people would _not_ let it go. Botan felt a familiar pang in her chest and fought it back.  
  
"Err, yes. Lord Koenma wishes to speak with you. He says he has some urgent business to speak with you about and to be ready to leave as soon as possible."  
  
"A mission?" Botan asked, blinking. The connection clicked and she leapt up with an excited squeak, raspberry eyes dancing wildly in her face. Quivering with anticipation she tackled the messenger girl and swung her around in a tight hug. "I'm going on a MISSION!! It's the world _GRAND_!?!" she nearly sobbed with joyful emotion. She dropped the rather shell-shocked red-head and dashed through the veritable ocean of frantic paper-filing ogres and stand-by ferry-girl to reach the giant double doors leading into Koenma's office.  
  
She bashed through the entryway and kick/slammed the doors shut behind her, nearly shrieking now.  
  
"When can I go!? Is it a real mission? Do you have new information? What is it Koenma! Oh _please_ tell me! I _MUST_ get out of the office _PLEASE_!!" she was begging as she half threw herself across Koenma's desk. There was an awkward pause in which wide gold eyes and feverish raspberry ones were inches apart but neither spoke. Koenma cleared his throat momentarily.  
  
"Umm...Botan? Could you let go of my shirt?" the teenage formed Koenma asked, slightly flustered.  
  
Botan blinked and realized that she had in fact flung herself across her employer's desk and did indeed have her hands buried in his collar. She instantly released him and stepped back, sweatdropping, embarrassed to have been so anxious with her emotions. She'd long since promised herself to stop being so spontaneous. It wasn't safe.  
  
"Heh, heh. Whoops?"  
  
The Reikai Prince was half sprawled in his chair, tussled head barely peering over the top of his desk. Swallowing he sat up and went about straightening his robes, while giving Botan negative looks. The ferry-girl rubbed the back of her neck nervously, laughing somewhat woodenly.  
  
It was strange to see Koenma at eye level all the time.  
  
Over the last hundred years he'd had a bit of a growth spurt and no longer was required to stay in his child-form which had come to look more like a surly pre-teen anyway. Suffice to say, everyone preferred older teenage Koenma to snappish 'no-one-understand-me' younger teen Koenma. The demi-god sighed and leaned forward to pick up the slightly skewed file Botan had upset with her dramatic entrance and handed it to her.  
  
"I want to you find the human in this file, Botan. His soul has come missing. Simple find and retrieve," he said nonchalantly. At first Botan was confused. He'd called her in so hastily for a retrieval mission? Something didn't make any-  
  
She looked at the file.  
  
_-Oh...-  
_  
Slapped right in the front cover of the plain manila folder was a hand written note, drawn in Koenma's scrawling script. Her bright wine hued eyes flashed from the words to Koenma and back again. The Prince shifted somewhat nervously and pretended to file paperwork, while watching her. Botan quickly read the letter.  
  
_Botan,  
  
I'm sorry I can't speak with you. I fear my father is listening in on my conversations. Things are getting more precarious. Dad is becoming distrustful. I know he suspects me, but I'm willing to take that risk. Botan you must get out of here. You have to run to Yuusuke's Realm. I've already sent a secret message, I can't tell you how, lest someone find this (the messenger would die) and they know you're coming. They've set up an envoy to take you safely into the kingdom in the usual place. My father will not tolerate you here any longer because of the thief's continued evading of his bounty hunters. He wants to take out his frustrations on you. I managed to persuade him to give me more time, but he plans you kill you once you come back from this false mission. You cannot return, Botan. Yuusuke and Keiko will take you in and I'm certain 'he' will come to you as soon as he can.  
  
-Your friend, _

_- Koenma  
_  
Botan looked up at the prince a long moment. A saddened pair of golden yellow eyes looked despondently back at her from pale, handsome features. Koenma smiled very thinly and closed his eyes as stray tresses of dark brown hair slid into his face. He lifted his arms to take the file from her. Botan saw his hands were shaking.  
  
"Be sure to complete your mission and return in a timely manner," he said in a remarkably calm voice, as he slipped the folder from her hands. "I need you back here so as possib-,"  
  
Botan placed a hand over his mouth.  
  
He froze, staring up at her. The ferry-girl's bright raspberry eyes glittered with unshed tears of gratitude. Several of them managed to leak from her lashes and spill down her cream colored cheeks. Koenma felt this own eyes sting and bit back a fearful sob as Botan quickly drew him into her embrace. Botan hugged her friend and employer tightly against her as he clung to her shoulders, body shaking with silent tears.  
  
The bluette wanted to scream, wanted to freak out right there, but she knew she couldn't give Koenma away like that. He was already sacrificing too much for her. There was no telling what his father would do when Botan simply didn't return from her mission and if he ever found out his son had something to do with it...  
  
Spankings were the very least of his problems.  
  
Whispering, he murmured almost inaudible into her ear. "I'm scared, Botan." His arms tightened. "For both of us."  
  
"You don't have to do this," Botan whispered in return, rubbing Koenma's upper back soothingly, feeling tight muscles, taunt with stress and fear. "I can face death. I'm the Grim Reaper remember?"  
  
"_No_!" he whispered fiercely, gripping her shoulders tight. "Promise me. Promise. You must get to Yuusuke. You must warn him. My father is scheming something. I don't know what, I'll try to get you word, but you must _not_ return, do you hear me? Botan, I won't let you die. My father is..." Koenma paused then simply held her tighter. "Don't die on me. _Promise_."  
  
Botan, tears streaming down her face, gripped the prince tighter, knowing how terrified the young ruler was to face the wrath of his father and doing so anyway for her. Botan and Koenma had always been ferry-girl and overseer, but since the trials against Hiei and Youko they'd banded together out of instinct.  
  
Seeking support in friendship that they were forbidden to have with their old acquaintances, Botan and Koenma had become veritable 'best-friends' and confidantes. Nothing more than that, (that was Ayame's territory) but Botan still felt her heart was being ripped out. Crying, she drew back and cupped Koenma's face in her hands, feeling her throat threaten to close on her.  
  
"Thank you. I'll live to help you, I promise," she half whispered, half mouthed.  
  
Koenma's beautiful amber eyes were over bright as he nodded, biting his lip. Botan quickly leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss across his forehead, fingers stroking lank and sweat soaked brown hair one last time. She stepped back, drawing away slowly, painfully, letting her hand slip from his face, to his shoulder, and down his arm until only their hands held each other.  
  
Koenma mouthed a single word to her and she forced herself to release her friend's fingers and flee for the door and her life.  
  
The young ruler slumped back in his chair, one hand covering his face, slender fingers hiding his eyes. He didn't move for several hours, gauging, waiting. Four hours passed in silence and Koenma felt a surge of relief run through him. If everything had gone off without a hitch, then Botan was already sufficiently distanced from here.  
  
Now he just waited, expectantly for the summons.  
  
_-"Koenma!"-_ a voice boomed through his mind, none too gently ringing through his skull, causing his head to reel painfully. He struggled not to pass out as the voice continued to assault his mind. _-"I'd like a word with you. Come to me immediately."-  
_  
Body trembling in anticipation of physical agony, the Reikai Prince stood to his feet, took a breath and walked toward his office doors to speak with King Enma.  
  
$%$%$%$%$%$%$  
  
**_ -Remember...  
_**  
$%$%$%$%$%$%$  
  
{Me} What was that? Make sense? No? What? If you have any suggestions regarding plot, writing or something, just ask and I'll stick a little review reply under my next update. I was pretty happy with this chapter.  
  
{Cloud8.9} Especially the Touya and Jin part. She wrote it directly after inhaling a giant pixi stick.  
  
{Me} Shuttup. OK!


	4. Between Victim and Killer

**Disclaimer:** Nuuuuuu...  
  
**Story Thus far:** Shizuru has 'recruited Cloud on her mission against Karasu. Cloud and Shizuru hate each other's guts. Touya and Jin are making a house call and Botan has fled for her life, leaving Koenma to deal with his father.  
  
Enjoy Chapter 4  
  
**. . .**

****

****

Between Killer and Victim

. . .

  
"Stop looking at him, Katie," giggled the pretty redhead, batting a playful hand at her friend. The other girl looked abashed and stopped staring at the new café singer, her heavily make-up lined blue eyes flicking back to his like a badly trained dog. The red-head girl giggled again, raising long, manicured fingers to her glossy lips. The door jangled as another early riser ambled in, the roar of the monsoon-like downpour outside filling the room before the entry shut again.  
  
"You can be a real ditz sometimes," muttered the third girl at the table, a sharply pretty brunette with piercing chocolate eyes and an irritated look as she drummed her fingers on the table. Her wide almond eyes darkened in something akin to anger hidden under simple annoyance. His dark hair was crop short about her ears, accent her small cleft shin and cute, nose set over a pair of pouting lips that looked more accustomed to snapping than pouting. Dressed in a dark indigo top and black, slack jeans she looked good without trying.  
  
"Oh come on, Mika," tittered the blonde, leaning secretively forward. "He's so cute. Even you have to admit it. Just appreciate the view."  
  
Mika snorted in reply. "Why am I hanging out with you two again?"  
  
"We're your roommates!" the other two chorused in reply. Then the girls became engrossed in the young man on stage, getting dreamy eyes and missing it when the other girl made a disgusted sound into her latte. She glanced up at the object of her companion's affection and felt a familiar pang of sympathy for the older teenager.  
  
He was seated up on stage, balanced easily atop the rickety looking stool the manager had provided for the young guitarist. He didn't seem to notice whether or not he was getting any doe-eyes stares or intrigued glances. He was far too absorbed in tuning the strings of his well worn guitar; long, gentle fingers adjusting it with quick, grace.  
  
He was a young man, hardly more than eighteen or nineteen at the most; a college student probably attending Harvard and staying at one of the campus dorms just a few streets away by the look of him. Cambridge, Massachusetts was a fair-sized city but this coffeehouse seemed to be a popular hangout for those who preferred quiet over the bustle of the city. Since he came here instead of the Starbucks a few blocks closer to the dorms it spoke for a more conservative personality. Dressed in a casual black sweater and jeans, road worn sneakers and a plain, overlarge sweat shirt slung over his guitar case he could have come from anywhere. He was handsome, heartbreakingly so, with a quiet, polite demeanor that was so rare these days.  
  
These traits had earned him a good reputation and high standing with the café manager, Melissa who allowed him to play here every morning before his classes began. Rain or shine, sheet or hail he was always there standing in the doorway at exactly seven fifteen AM, his guitar case in hand, his worn Jansport backpack in the other. He'd walk up to Melissa, smile quietly and gain permission to play. Eventually she'd told him to stop asking and just take the stage. The customers got a bit agitated if their favorite player didn't arrive on time.  
  
His slightly slanted eyes retained an exotic, foreign vibe about them, his gaze thoughtful yet intense. Few got close enough to see clearly, but girls insisted his eyes were a shade of jade green flecked with gold. His hair was cropped short to his scalp, but despite his obvious attempts to tame it, his almost blood red locks stuck up from his head in wild spikes that swept back from his face like frozen licks of fire. His pale skin was smooth and youthful over a well muscled, but not bulky body. Long legs easily propped against the bars holding his stool together, slender looking arms cradling his instrument carefully as his listened for the correct tone by ear. He closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly to listen better to the sound of the quivering chord he'd just played.  
  
Katie leaned sideways to get a better look at the back of his neck, acting on a rumor.  
  
"Ooh! It's true!" she whispered excitedly to her friend who rolled her eyes in reaction to her boy-crazy companions. "I thought Julie was just saying it, but he really does have one."  
  
"One _what_? And why do you insist on knowing every detail of that poor boy's anatomy?" gritted the brunette.  
  
"Oh don't be crude. I meant the tattoo. You know, the one of a blue peony on his neck, just below his right ear. I can see it from here."  
  
Mika groaned.  
  
"His name is Zane Yokoma," chirped the red-head girl, stroking her own flaming locks. Mika fancied that she thought their similar hair color bound them in some mystical way. The brunette had no urge to inform her companion – Ginger – that her light brown roots were starting to grow out. "He's from Japan," she went on, breathing the words like she was turned on by just sitting there. "He's supposed to be really smart. But most Japanese guys are, this one's just really cute."  
  
"You total _cheerleader_. He _visited_ Japan because he has _family_ there. He's not ACTUALLY Japanese," Mika snapped. The other two stared at her. Mika instantly regretted her snappish words, fearing that her room mates weren't quite stupid enough to miss her obvious mistake. Fumbling she tried to cover her slip. "Uhh...not that I actually know...err...just rumor."  
  
"Have you _met_ him?" squeaked Katie.  
  
"NO!" Mika snapped quickly, angry with herself.  
  
_"You have!"_ Ginger squealed.  
  
Mika was about to say something very regrettable when the sound of a mike being tapped captured her attention. The three girls looked up to see Zane leaning forward to wrap his fingers around the small black amplifier. He cleared his throat slightly, glancing around the room to make sure he had everybody's attention.  
  
"Good morning. I hope everyone's having a nice time," he began politely. There was a soft rustle of agreement around the room, the sleepy café stirring in reaction to his kind inquiry. The red-head smiled gently and sat back in the seat, picking up his guitar. "This one's something I just threw together a few days ago. If it's a bit sketchy I apologize, I was thinking of someone."  
  
There was an amused ripple through the café and the guitarist lowered his head a shade bashfully, smiling still. He strummed out an experimental chord and grew somewhat more sober.  
  
"This one's called _Rainfall_. Since it's pouring out, it should fit the day well," he said quietly, his voice low and husky. He looked ready to say something more but thought better of it and went on. Zane's fingers moved rhythmically through a soothing sentence of crystal clear guitar rifts, stringing the note like a beads and making everyone feel the gentle, steady fall of rain outside. Soon several sleepier coffee house customers were drifting off to siesta in their booth. Everyone else was listening with rapt attention, sipping coffee as an after thought.  
  
Finally he leaned forward and let his soft voice fill the café like a soothing aura, words slipping from his lips and weaving into the souls of the listeners.

_"Teardrops falling gently, _

_Wash away my sins, _

_Downpour flowing over, _

_Where are all my friends?_

_Rain cloud hanging o'er me, _

_Darkness in my step, _

_Walking in my shadow, _

_Just my heart left cold and wet,_

_Rain dripping from peonies,_

_Roses weeping tears, _

_Your eyes, they must abandon,_

_Me, to face the years._

_I can't survive without you, _

_But I'll just have to deal, _

_To be with you is a death wish, _

_But I'm willing to yield,"_

The next part seemed to be the chorus. The red-head's hands suddenly moving into a fluid succession of low chords that blended seamlessly with his voice. It might have been overactive imagination but one almost fancied that the rain outside fell harder.

_"To death I'd let my life go, _

_To Styx I'd gladly flow, _

_If I'll see your face again, _

_Your smile I need to know,"_

Thunder rumbled across the skies just outside, nearly covering the sound of Zane's next words. The slowly, rainwater, like sound of the song filled the sleep café, making all the rest of the world seem smaller. What did the rest of the world matter while Zane was playing in here? Somehow hearing this song was the most important thing any of these people could think of and no one moved a muscle to leave.

_"Partners leave for power,_

_Allies leave for love, _

_Comrades losing life too soon, _

_Now they watch me from above,_

_Alone I stand without you, _

_I see you vanish in the dawn, _

_In the rain I watch you leaving, _

_Then I remember you're...already gone,"_

The young man took a slow wavering breath as if remembering something that hurt. His lips opened to speak but nothing emerged. Instead he lowered his head and his fingers held still on the guitar in his hands, stopping and letting the last note of the pervious chord hang in the alert, coffeehouse air. The silent café occupancy waited expectantly, the occasional clink of a spoon stirring in a mug or a rustle of a napkin being heard.  
  
The silence seemed to lengthen for an unusual amount of time.  
  
Finally the guitarist smiled sadly and looked up at his audience with a rueful smile. "I'm sorry. I can't play anymore. That's all I have." There was a smattering of disappointment and good natured chuckles. The red-head shook his head and spoke into the microphone again, green eyes casting about the room. "I'll take requests since I haven't finished the song. Anyone?"  
  
There were a few glances and thoughtful mutters but nothing certain. Finally a voice rose loud from the back of the café.  
  
"How about Dragon Roses? The one you played last week. I liked that one," said Mika, smiling amiably at the guitarist. Zane looked at her for a long moment, watching her with a thoughtful look. She only looked back to her coffee, a please expression on her face. The rest of the café nodded in agreement, smiling in delight. That particular song was a favorite. It was somewhat dark and moody. A piece about two people, one fierce and angry, one calm and logical. It was basically about them being as different black and white and complimenting each other perfectly in life's battle. Dragon and Roses.  
  
"Alright," he conceded, smiling. "I'll play that one."

** . . .**

I hate you.  
  
Three simple, yet oh so weighty words.  
  
Cloud had used them only twice in his life away from the Unlit. Once to his mortal enemy and former partner and now to Shizuru. The former had been a true deserving candidate for the words and every drop of bitter emotion behind it. The creature's name was Karasu. The crow had taken advantage of his trust and used him, pretended to be his comrade until the perfect moment to stab him in the back presented itself. Despite this traumatizing treachery, Cloud had truly hated few people in his life and this one had come as the ultimate surprise to him.  
  
To him everyone he met had the potential to be hated. After all, the first person he'd encountered had received his hatred and the men he'd been given to afterwards certainly earned his 'disfavor'. Many of them had learned the bloody way that a dark angel's 'disfavor' was not a pretty thing. Though, the custodian probably got to enjoy some lovely crimson patterns splattered across the walls and ceilings. To Cloud it was only logical that all living creatures were more likely to be 'disliked' at best, hated at worst.  
  
So when Shizuru had shown him the first glimmer of the decent humanity it had rocked his somewhat limited views on other people. He'd found himself considering that perhaps his former masters had been wrong. All his teachers, peers and his entire community had been wrong. That there _were_ beings out there worthy of trust.  
  
In the Unlit the word 'trust' was a joke in itself.  
  
The verilee of the Neither Makai were ruthless and brutal in their constant struggle of ambition and lust for blood. To trust was to invite a dagger to your back. In fact to say 'I trust you' meant that they knew the blade was coming and they were more than ready to counter attack. A joke in itself among a race that lived off suffering and power, dark angels had evolved beyond simple demons. Nearly every dark angel was of A class or higher at birth. Though they were all so very powerful, they were also arrogant. They believed they were gods among demons and were above the Makai and preferred to rule their own level of the youkai realm.  
  
Funny thought seeing how they lived on the lowest level of the Demon World.  
  
Cloud stared dismally up at the buzzing street light overhead and reflected on the irony that was his life. He'd fled his birthplace in search of something he could trust. That trust had been betrayed had he'd hidden his heart deep within the armored walls of his solitude. Then, when he'd chanced to meet a girl who displayed genuine traits of compassion, trust, and strength he'd dared to ease open those defenses. Shizuru had quickly embedded herself in his memory. He'd asked, out of reflex, 'do you trust me?' and she'd said yes.  
  
Now 'trust' to him, brought the image of her calm, smirking face.  
  
So didn't that miserable witch named Fate just love to torment him? He'd carried that image with him for almost a century, letting himself believe in the good of humanity, letting her work her way into the deepest part of his conscience...only to have her reappear and rip apart his world from the inside out. Cloud's garnet eyes flinched and clenched shut beneath his shades, recalling the meeting in cruel detail. It was everything about that fact she'd betrayed him – she being the _one_ living creature he'd dared to trust – and that she's not only attacked him physically, but emotionally. She'd said things...  
  
Horrible things.  
  
Cloud shuddered inwardly thinking of it. The memories they stirred made him sick to his stomach. That kind of betrayal was almost on par with that he'd experienced with Karasu. Worse, seeing how Karasu had been the first, but for Shizuru to do this to him. Well, Cloud, if asked, would have said that the sensation was similar to wanting to puke, scream, cry, and do others bodily harm all at once. After the initial numbness of shock had faded Cloud was left standing on a street corner, waiting for Shizuru to return with 'a friend of mine' in her own words.  
  
So he was on a street corner.  
  
Alone.  
  
And in the most exquisite emotional agony he'd ever experienced in all his 300 centuries of existence.  
  
At least Karasu's betrayal had been simple and logical; Shizuru's didn't make any sense at all. Cloud's entire world, beliefs and inspiration for simply going on had just turned around a slapped him in the face, ripped apart every tender wound he had, and ground his pride in the dirt along with his peace of mind.  
  
Erm...Ouch?  
  
Not only that but she seemed to take some kind of lewd pleasure in it! She liked informing him that all his inner demons were not just inner, but very real. It was _his_ fault all the things that had happened to Kurama and it was _his_ fault that Karasu had power to kill so many and he _owed_ it to both her, Kurama and her comrades to kill the sadistic quest demon. Yes, this was betrayal on a whole new level and Cloud had been so sure he was the reigning expert.  
  
Cloud closed his eyes, slipping his glasses back up to their proper place on his nose, hiding his eyes. With an exhausted sigh he tipped his head back against the wall behind him. Rough brick scraped his scalp like a gruff wake-up call, but Cloud welcomed the minor pain. He wanted to just forget, let his senses go numb and his mind blank. His hand slipped from his pocket to trail lightly against the porous brick, his fingerless gloves allowing his sensitive fingertips to brush the cold rock, hard and real. He tipped his head aside, lank spikes of pale gold falling across his forehead. For once Cloud found himself wishing he was not immune to the affects of the bottle or even needle.  
  
Sick! Shameful! Weak! Cowardly!  
  
The shadowkai winced at the stabbing accusations of his own self-critics, turning his head aside as if feeling some form a physical pain. Couldn't he even _entertain_ the idea of being mortal for a moment? As a fantasy? Why did he always feel guilty for everything when others did far worse everyday and acted like it was nothing? Cloud liked to make things simple as possible. As a result the shadowkai tended to see black and white. Good and evil...at least most of the time.  
  
In his wishful gaze you could either be good, follow the path of self- forgiveness and righteousness where you learned from mistakes and corrected your misdemeanors. A hero and decent, moral person worthy of mentioning...  
  
Or you could be a filthy sadistic, lustful, murderer. Sinning without regard, feeling no guilt because you have no conscience and hissed in the darkness of the worst horror stories.  
  
Unfortunately, life was rarely black and white as Cloud would like it and so he was somewhere in between. Sitting astride the proverbial fence if you will.  
  
And it SUCKED.  
  
"Hey, wake up," a sharp female voice intruded on the dark angel's rampant thoughts. "I've gotta introduce you to the rest of our team."  
  
-_Joy. Now we're a 'team'. My day's shit-o-meter goes up by the moment.-_ Cloud thought mordantly to himself, lifting his gold dusted head from the wall to swing his gaze around to the human hanging out the door beside him. Shizuru, face mask back in place, eyes narrowed, motioned for him to hurry up. Cloud felt no need to do any such thing and pushed off the wall to move casually toward the door.  
  
The girl's eyes seemed to grow thinner the longer she looked at him. He suspected just by existing he somehow baned her life. Cloud darkly thought of a few ways he could 'fix' that problem and glared at the demon-hunter.  
  
"Well come on. He's inside," Shizuru snapped, reaching to grab his arm. Umm...hell no!  
  
Cloud knocked her hand away from his shoulder with a lightening fast sweep of his arm. Her wrist struck the door frame and she tensed, looking for a reason to start something, but unwilling to do so, so soon into their little arrangement. Ruby eyes pinned Shizuru's slitted topaz orbs with yet another look that fell under the 'if-looks-could-kill-this-face-would- slowly-strip-the-flesh-from-your-living-bones' category.  
  
"_Don't_," he hissed, under his breath. "Touch. Me."  
  
He blew by her, leaving Shizuru to stand alone in the doorway with the wake of cold revulsion he left behind him. The female demon-hunter found she could not think of any proper reprimand, or words she could say to the shadowkai in order to punish him. For a brief instant she thought of grabbing him and slapping him, hard. The knowledge that there was nothing he could do about it tempted her sorely but he decided against it.  
  
He really did hate her.  
  
Shizuru would have never thought that her own loathing could be returned, but he'd pretty much decimated that idea. The girl peered down at her throbbing hand with a morbid fascination. He'd moved so fast she hadn't realized he'd moved until her arm struck the frame. Shizuru was troubled by this. She should have seen it coming; his reaction I mean. Of course he didn't want her to touch him. The girl was momentarily mystified why she'd even considered it.  
  
Then again, dragging the little shadowkai somewhere he didn't want to go appealed to her. His new addiction to personal space could give her some measure of amusement at his expense. She stifled a sudden urge to snicker and entered the single, yet large apartment room.  
  
"You. I should have known you were too pretty to be a bounty hunter," Cloud's stinging observation drifted to Shizuru through the entry hall as she turned into the main room.  
  
Cloud lounged, casual as you please against the far wall. Sluking in the darkest corner of the room, he looked like some mismatched creature of the night. His shoulders braced against the barrier, one worn combat boot planted against the stucco, hands deep in his many pockets. His heavy trench coat shadowed him like a black aura, giving the lithe fighter a dark almost gothic air. The glitter of buckles and chains that secured his protective jacket tight against his wiry frame was the only bright thing about himself save his hair perhaps. Cold garnet eyes revealed only slightly by the slipping of his sunglasses gave the affect of two bloody pools spilling over mirrors. Cloud's fanged leer was disturbing in its own right while Shizuru struggled against the very real energy of darkness permeating his presence.  
  
If only his hair was black instead of electric blond.  
  
"You hardly have the right to speak," Alaster returned mildly.  
  
The half youko was seated comfortably at the table in the opposite corner of the room, cloak cast aside in the privacy of their temporary home. The apartment was quiet, safe and away from any unwanted ears. That's why Alaster had broken in and claimed it for them.  
  
The blue youko looked stunning just sitting there, silver-azure hair spilling down his shoulders, ethereal face calm and collected. (Despite the lollipop sticking from one side of his mouth) His single fox tail swayed back and forth good-naturedly, patiently while slats of moonlight from the barred window caught on his fur, bathing him in silver. However, the two soft blue triangles poking up from his head didn't add to the regal affect somehow. They were a bit too round in youth; barely over a pup, really. He wore a simple white out fit of flexible pants, sleeveless tunic and soft soled shoes.  
  
Compared to Cloud's dark countenance they were polar opposites. Even their chosen positions reflected their personalities: Cloud skulking dangerously in a dark corner, Alaster lounging calmly in the light of the Makai moons outside. An angel and a devil sharing air in one room.  
  
Unnatural as it was obscurely amusing to Shizuru.  
  
"Meet Alaster. He's my traveling partner and friend," Shizuru drawled by way of introduction, waving to the half-youko who narrowed his eyes slightly, sucking more furiously on the hard candy in his mouth. "But you two have already met."  
  
Cloud made a soft 'hn' of scorn and closed his eyes again; he projected a flawless 'the-world-be-damned-for-all-I-care' aura. Alaster arched a brow at Shizuru, surprised at the shadowkai's aggressive and sulky demeanor. He'd been expecting something else entirely from Shizuru's previous descriptions. The youko had been with Shizuru for a long time, seen her go through many changes as him, good and bad. Cloud wasn't highly discussed, but she'd never mentioned him being such a well...bastard.  
  
Then Alaster was to be startled yet again this time by his companion.  
  
Shizuru was scowling something horrible. Her tawny eyes were slitted with a primal hatred as she looked upon Cloud's inert figure. If he hadn't known any better he would have suspected she planned to murder the fair-haired youkai.  
  
Disturbed, Alaster looked away from his adopted sister and back to the dark angel.  
  
"Are you going to sleep like that because this is our room," he said, somewhat gently, thinking perhaps Cloud hadn't gotten used to the idea of hunting Karasu. From what he knew the shadowkai had quite a bit of history with the quest class youkai.  
  
He got nothing but a discouraging flare of dark energy in reply. Alaster felt his tail fluff out in instinctive reaction to a jolt of fear that raced through him. He nearly went for the seeds concealed in his hair, but his wayward hand was halted by a gentle touch on the shoulder. He glanced at Shizuru who was smiling, amused. Alaster realized this must be his Fear Shadows technique. Goosebumps prickled his arms and he gaped at the darkly garbed youkai in shock. Shizuru chuckled slightly at his reaction.  
  
"Get used to it, Baby Bro. He only gets more fun by the minute," she sneered, lip curling in distain. Cloud's sunglasses glinted at her. It was impossible to tell if he was even paying attention.  
  
Alaster eyed the shadowkai dubiously. The dark youkai didn't react in the slightest. So far his predictions toward the over all pleasantness of this quest were looking back at him with disfavor. But then again, revenge missions rarely are 'pleasant' but he'd been hoping that he'd get to meet one of the legendary shadowkai of the Unlit and speak with him. Shizuru had made him sound so inviting...Looking at him now he felt certain the dark angel would take his head off for twitching the wrong way in his presence.  
  
"We'll crash here for the night," Shizuru said throwing herself on the bed nearest to Cloud, a bold statement of her casual regard to the demon. He wasn't a threat in her book. She stretched, nubile body going taunt before relaxing back into the worn, but serviceable bed. She cracked one eye at the blonde situated against the wall. "And you. If you have anything to take care of here, do it tonight. We contact my two trackers tomorrow morning."  
  
Cloud finally removed his sunglasses, delicately removing them from his face and staring at her with a predatory expression the made angel features take on a deadlier, demonic vibe.  
  
"Trackers? To find _Karasu_?"  
  
"I know. You're heart oozes with concern for my two comrades, I'm sure," Shizuru drawled, smirking. "They can take care of themselves and their clever as hell. Don't worry about a thing, blondie."  
  
Alaster didn't miss the smear in the word 'blondie' and took note of Cloud's sudden tension. The dark angel's hand clenched and Alaster hoped to heaven that Shizuru knew what she was doing. The half fox demon watched the dark being fight against what looked like a primal urge to do Shizuru some damage with those malicious looking handguns at his sides. Alaster sucked fretfully on the lollipop, eyes flitting quickly between Cloud and Shizuru. The human girl seemed to enjoy the immortal's negative attention and smiled provocatively. She puckered, full, rosy lips and blew him a butterfly kiss.  
  
There was disgusted murmur and when Alsaster's eyes returned to the dark angel only to find Cloud was gone; the dark corner empty of his darker presence. Shizuru was unconcerned and only turned over, sighing. Alaster frowned. This jarring relationship wasn't going to work very well in their favor. Shizuru hadn't told him she was going to force the shadowkai to work for them. He was sure the dark angel would be coming of his own free will, not being coerced into hunting the quest demon. And further more, why WAS Cloud putting up with it? If Alaster had been in his place he would have taken off way before now. He opened his mouth and began to say something, but the young woman cut him off.  
  
"He'll be back. Trust me."  
  
Alaster fell silent a moment, feeling the strange power in her words.  
  
Trust me...

**. . .** **  
  
**  
"The eyes!" screeched the demoness. "Cold! Death! Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering _fearing_ - _darkness_!"  
  
Rigid fingers clawed wildly at the air as the owner of the hands hacked and coughed. Spittle speckled the corners of her mouth dribbling down her chin. The youkai's eyes rolled wildly in her skull, darting about frantically. Her thin body was racked with agonized explosions, shaking her shoulders violently, driving her to near insanity it seemed. Touya watched her with growing anxiety. The little girl youkai who'd come seeking Jin and himself at the bar hung behind Touya's leg, clinging to the folds of his pant leg. Her inky black eyes grew rounder by the moment and she began to bounce up and down excitedly behind the ice demon.  
  
"Mama's _crazy!!!_" squealed the little girl and the two shinobi wondered obscurely if this child was OK in the head.  
  
Touya gently pushed her toward the door where Jin hung back expectantly. The wind demon picked up the tiny girl and backed up slowly, warily. Touya nodded to his friend, signaling silently for him to wait before moving slowly toward the demoness. The woman stood in the center of the room, the remains of the table and beds lay shredded on the floor, claw marks had been carved into the walls and blood oozed sluggishly from the a deep wound raked into her arm by sharp claws. Her black eyes were wide, unfocused and panicky. She darted frantically about the room as if searching for something, desperately seeking something.  
  
"Eyes...the eyes! Horrible! _Hideous_! Beautiful! No...NOOOO!" she screamed, clutching her head and staggering about the room, upsetting the already trashed furniture. Touya circled her carefully, holding out a welcoming hand before him.  
  
"It's okay..." he said slowly, soothingly.  
  
The woman's eyes swung about to lock on the source of the soft voice. Her body went rigid, freezing like a mouse under the gaze of a cobra. The slender ice demon crept forward, cautiously, careful not to disturb anything should the sudden motion set her off. He slipped nearer, ducking slowly under a low hanging rafter and moving toward the delusional female. She twitched and backed away, body jerking quickly. Touya could see the feverish sweat soaking her fur, the way her undersized wings fluttered spastically in fear. The beat of the two limbs was out of sync and she swayed unsteadily. Double vision most likely, headache, fever, all symptoms that led to hallucination.  
  
"Tapping, tapping! I hear a _tapping_!!" she chanted, fingers digging deep into her dark, scraggly hair, her face was contorted in fear, wild mania in her eyes. "The tapping! At the door! _The door_!!"  
  
Touya lifted his hands toward her, showing he was unarmed. The fact he could create his own weapons with a flicker of whim was information she need not be privy to.  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help."  
  
"DO YOU HEAR IT?!" she shrieked. Her claws bit into her own skin, drawing blood. "_Do you hear it!?_ From the Night's Plutonian shore! DO YOU HEAR THE TAPPING!?"  
  
Touya shook his head, lost, totally bewildered by her behavior. Tapping? Plutonian shore? Eyes? She was rambling mindlessly, creating some fanatical dirge he could not fathom. Behind him, Jin's ears pricked up, twitching slightly in search of this unheard 'tapping'. The child in his arms also looked about as if a late night visitor would sudden pop up and say 'Sorry about all the tapping! I'm just selling doors door to door! This one seems a bit un-sturdy to me'.  
  
"I don't hear anything. Please calm down. Then we can find the person tapping, but you must calm down first."  
  
"Oh no! No, no, no, no, _no_..." she rasped, shaking her head fiercely and backing away from the young man. Her eyes took on a wild, piercing stare, an unnatural leer that didn't fit her face as she stared at Touya. She waved a finger wildly in his direction, hissing out her next words. "Don't think you can fool me little angel! I have but _seen_ all the things you doubt! Dreaming dreams no mortal has ever vowed to dream before!! NEVER, NEVER!! NEVERMORE!!"  
  
She shrieked the last words and flung herself at the ice youkai. Behind him, the little girl shrieked and buried her face in Jin's neck. The wind demon gritted his teeth, restraining his instinctive urge to leap to his comrade's aid. A century ago he might have done just that, but not anymore. With his new powers and Touya's increasing control of energy the mixing of their techniques could be disastrous. He had to stay out of it.  
  
Touya waited, letting his mind sink into the almost rem-trance that had become his fighting style. With fluid grace he simply slid away from the unfocused attack. The female's claws slashed through the air where the slender demon had been only moment before. Shrieking she whirled, clawing madly at empty air but finding no enemy to sink her talons into. Suddenly a hard pressure lanced through the side of her neck, just beneath her left ear. She gasped, back arching slightly in shock before sighing and going limp. Touya caught the woman quickly, letting her sag into his arms and eased her to the ground.  
  
He quickly tore the curtains from the nearby window and used them to bind the demoness' hands. Touya didn't like this. When'd he'd first heard that the family belonging to one of his hunting party members was ill he'd immediately suspected it to be the work of the sickness that had taken most of his group. However, these later symptoms were deeply disturbing and unusual in a simple virus.  
  
"It looks like whatever this disease is...it's contagious," Touya said, face darkened only slightly in apprehension. He looked up at the tiny girl in Jin's arms and narrowed his azure gaze somewhat. With a cold and icy tone he directed his next question at the child. "How long ago was your family exposed to the disease?"  
  
The girl grinned cluelessly at the ice demon. Touya arched a brow slightly. She only smiled wider than before. "You're funny," she said finally.  
  
Jin smiled encouragingly at the little girl while Touya looked openly perplexed. "E' means when did yur da' come 'ome?"  
  
"Oh!" exclaimed the little girl, clapping her hands happily. "About two days ago. Father came home sick and bloody from fighting. We were all there. Me, mama, Kath and Nami."  
  
"Then you left to find us a day ago so your family was exposed to it roughly 24 hours longer than you, correct?" Touya queried.  
  
She stared at him once again like she could not comprehend anything he'd just said. She smiled that silly little grin that Touya was finding to be disturbingly like the smile of an autistic child. Was it possible her bout with the disease had left her mind slightly skewed?  
  
"You're pretty," she in her childishly innocent voice. Touya's perplexed look only deepened as did his suspicions as to her mental state.  
  
"Erm...yu' were sick 'bout a day ago right, lass?"  
  
She nodded happily, reaching up to fondle Jin's flaming red hair.  
  
"Th' rest o' yur family were sick an' stayed behin' right?"  
  
Nod. Nod. Nod. "But mama wasn't crazy when I left. She had the fever though. First comes the cough, then the fever, then the shadows, then the screaming, then the death."  
  
Touya folded his arms across his chest, face impassive as he asked his next question. "What were your father's symptoms before he left the house? The same?"  
  
"Uh...he...umm...was all dizzy and tired and mama said he had a fever," supplied the girl, clambering up Jin's shoulder to fold her arms on top of his untamed fire-red tresses. "He was all mean and cranky. He slapped Nami and Kath and me. He made us bleed cause of his claws. Then Mama told him to stop cause he was getting blood everywhere so he ran out with our axe." Her big ebony eyes were drifting dreamily about the room. Yes, there was certainly something off with this child.  
  
"What did he act like when he took the axe?" Touya asked.  
  
"Erm..." The girl became distracted and frowned heavily, looking away. For a moment Touya and Jin got a glimpse at the little girl who'd just lost her entire family instead of the crazy little youkai who laughed at sickness and death. She fiddled with Jin's hair as if absorbed in her workings  
  
Touya stepped forward and looked up at the girl from his less than intimidating height. "Minna. We want to help. It's OK to tell us."  
  
The little demon started, shocked. "You 'membered my name?" she asked, voice a bit soft.  
  
Touya nodded, tipped his striking face and letting his lips quirk just slightly. For Touya that was probably the friendliest expression you could get out of him and though it wasn't much, just the tiny adjustment to his usually unfeeling features seemed to make him an entirely new person. It was like by just smiling he let soft threads of vulnerability; compassion, and warmth slip through and change his face. Even his stony indigo eyes, often the hue of a deep frozen lake, had softened to a more inviting pastel blue. Frankly Jin found his mouth had fallen open and he couldn't close it.  
  
"Yes. I heard you tell Jin on the road," he said with a mild nod of his head. Minna seemed to relax somewhat, as if hypnotized by the Ice Master's soothing voice and suddenly friendly manner. "We really do want to help you."  
  
Smiling, suddenly bright again she nodded. "Okay."  
  
"Good," Touya said encouragingly. "So can you remember? Did he act like your mother did just now?"  
  
"Yeah. He kept saying 'nevermore'," murmured the girl, snuggling closer against Jin's chest. She then became engrossed in getting something out of her hair and didn't look talkative anymore. That was fine. Touya had enough to go off of for now.  
  
"Nevermore," Touya repeated. "That's...unusual. To have the same virus and symptoms is one thing, but to see the same delusions? This could be a new type of disease. I suppose I can dig up some information on it if we travel to X'callin, but we could finish our business here first. What do you think, Jin?"  
  
He glanced up at Jin only to find the redhead was openly staring at him. Disturbed by his friend's demeanor the ice demon backed away from the Wind Master and checked himself cautiously, thinking perhaps Minna's mother had managed to catch his shirt or something. But his search found nothing amiss and he backed a bit father from Jin's ogling eyes.  
  
"What?" he demanded nervously.  
  
"I dun think I ever seen yu be so noice to someone. Specially a wee lass loike Minna," sputtered the wind demon, ogling at his comrade.  
  
Touya made a dark sound under his breath.  
  
Without another word the ice demon turned away from his friend and moved back toward the fallen demoness on the floor. Obviously Touya didn't feel like going in depth on his moment of 'niceness' and had taken the 'ignore it' route. Jin just grinned impishly as the diminutive ice youkai slid his arms under the willowy female and scooped her up with practiced ease. He glanced at Jin and shook his head in what appeared to be mild disgust and seemed to 'vanish'. Jin knew that Touya had in fact started to run and was simply going too fast to see unless he to was moving at the same speed. Thinking the house to be far too stuffy, the Wind Master wandered outside to breathe the familiar air.  
  
He sat down comfortably to await Touya's return. Jin sighed contentedly and peered up at the two gleaming Makai Moons overhead. The wind whispered through the thick, gnarled branches of the overhead trees, murmuring softly, happily to the wind demon. Jin grinned amiably up at the stirring trees, listening with twitching ears to the gentle speak of the flowing air and breeze. He let his mind wander, his thoughts straying back to the scene only moments before.  
  
Jin sighed and lay back in the grass, enjoying the cool breeze as it eagerly caressed his skin. Minna cooed and leapt up to dance exuberantly, spinning in clumsy little circles as the wind swirled in gentle cyclones of petals and leaves about her feet. The redhead grinned in a ridiculously affectionate manner. While Touya may have only enough regard to the girl to be briefly comforting Jin thought she was down right adorable and her quirky little attitude was quite fun. She had him had struck an enthusiastic song of 'One Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall' and gotten all the way to ninety-eight before Touya had frozen Jin's mouth shut and in turn threatened Minna with the same fate.  
  
The rest of the trip was relatively quiet after that, but Jin amused the girl by twitching his ears at her and making faces. Who knew? Jin was good with toddlers.  
  
Soon he found himself dozing slightly, eyes slipping closed. Anyone else having just witnessed a demoness going mad with contagious disease that drove the victim round the bend and lead to possible death might have been a shade more tense in the shoulders, but not Jin. All this morbid excitement deserved to be slept on. He'd probably have a while knew view on all this when he woke up. But before that he watched Minna play for a while longer, amused by her childish antics. Few knew but Jin had trained as a Wind Master from childhood. He'd been given little time to be a kid. He'd mentally shoved fun into a corner until he was about twelve. By then his spirit energy developed enough to allow him some freedom.  
  
Now that he was one of the strongest shinobi in existence who was to tell him he couldn't be a kid? What? No volunteers? Alrighty then!  
  
"Minna?" Jin called lazily. "Dun wonder off t' far. Touya'll be comin' back soon he will."  
  
The girl stopped spinning to look up at the reclining wind demon on the ground. With an amiable grin she tottered over toward the red head and plopped down beside him. Her bright blue gaze was trained on the sky overhead and she craned her neck to look up too. Seeing nothing she pouted and prodded Jin in the side. He grinned up at her.  
  
"Aye?"  
  
"Look at the pretty flower!" she squealed in delight, presenting a large purple, white bloom two centimeters under his nose. Jin blinked. There were no flowers like that around here. She hadn't been holding one. Had she made that?  
  
"Aye, tis very pretty-ful," he praised, plucking the many petaled flower from her hands.

It was rose-like, the colorful petals forming a bud that slowly spread out. However its stem was more of a vine that a bush, a pale blue color, while several drooping anthers sprouted from the center of the lovely flora.

"Where'd yu' come by such a rare'n lovely treasure Minna? Are yu' a magic girl? Make it outta not bu' air?" He feigned awe at her skills and she giggled.  
  
"No silly! I have seeds!" she exclaimed happily, digging about in her tattered skirt pockets for the seeds. Unable to find them, she began to comb her small claws through her hair. Triumphant she produced a small pale seed and held it up for Jin's inspection. The wind Master was faintly startled. She grew plants from their seed form? Interesting. Jin grinned wondering how Touya would react knowing that this exuberant little girl possessed the power of a demon who'd defeated him in battle nearly a century ago. Sure, they'd been partners of sorts at the Makai Tournaments but it would be funny to see the look on his face anyway.  
  
"Fun," murmured Jin, leaning back and staring up at the moons again.  
  
There was no real warning. Luck must have loved Jin like a brother because if Minna hadn't chosen that exact moment to tug on his ear, he wouldn't have rolled over and the claws that embedded themselves in the soil inches from his skull would have gouged his eyes out. Pain raked across the back of his neck, ripping through the exposed flesh but missing any vital points. Jin shouted in startled hurt and lunged away, snapping out of perception and leaping into the air with Minna scooped protectively in his arms. No sooner had his feet left the ground then the soil exploded in a shower of dirt and rock.  
  
He spun in a tight circle and scanned the foliage below, rising away into the air, scanning the ground for his attacker. However, the area was empty of any and all persons save a couple of very insidious looking tree stumps. But the blood running down his back was no illusion and the wounds were stinging sharply, hurting far worse than he expected.  
  
"How upsetting," crooned a low velvety purr. "I suppose two birds with one stone is a gross exaggeration."  
  
Jin froze as the whispery voice filled the air around him. Jin instantly opened himself to the wind, feeling it's every air current, the play of wind between the trees, breeze sifting through grass, sliding around obstructions and solid forces. In a moment Jin knew where the speaker was. The trees to his right, behind the truck of the thick Blood Oak. He spun, thrusting his arm out straight before him, aimed at the concealed attacker.  
  
"MIDDAY GALE!!!" he roared.  
  
Wind exploded down the length of his arm, coming to his call like a well trained attack dog, the air swirled down his limb and ripped through the air toward the Blood Oak, picking up wind as it went, growing until it was a literal wall of wind. It exploded though the heavy greenery and blasted the branches asunder. The hurricane force wind ripped through trees and snapped through trucks like twigs leaving a long, scar of broken canopy in its wake. Jin scanned the wreckage with glittering blue eyes, face tight with anxiety.  
  
"Such an annoying pest you are, little wind elf. I should kill you now."  
  
"Aye, well if yu' think yur up t' th' challenge then go ahead an' try," Jin shouted at the greenery around him. The voices of the air were confused. The demon had disappeared to their senses.  
  
"Oh I am. But I have far more interest in your earthbound friend."  
  
Minna tightened her hold and Jin's neck, ignoring the blood and whimpering. Jin felt his stomach do a sickening somersault, making the Wind Master ill.  
  
_-Ah no. Touya.-  
_  
The voice sounded amused by his facial expression. "A pretty one. So cold and ruthless. I'll leave his features unmarred so you can know them in death."  
  
"No!! Yu'll be stayin' away from him!! Yu' hear me yu bastard!!" Jin bellowed at the trees, spinning frantically in search of the speaker.  
  
Where was he? Had he already left to sink his claws into Touya? The ice demon was formidable, he could take care of himself, but he wasn't expecting an attack this early and he was carrying a full grown demoness. Touya's spirit senses were incredible though. Even if Jin couldn't feel the demon he was certain Touya would. But even this wouldn't save him. Touya was sensitive to spirit energy, but by the time he felt it the bastard would be on top of him. If it was any other demon it wouldn't make a difference but not this demon. Touya couldn't afford the slight disadvantage.  
  
"Then why do you hunt me, little shinobi? Why do you and your icy partner pursue my steps? It becomes most vexing," murmured that dark sultry voice. "The ice demon is too adept at his profession. He has proved most difficult to shake off." There was an angry pause. "His kind of intellect is too dangerous to let go on. Perhaps I shall personally have a look inside that head of his?"  
  
"Wait!" Jin said quickly, mind racing. Time, time, he needed time; he had to keep this guy talking. "Yu wanna know why we' be trackin' yu' across th' far an wide, righ'?"  
  
"That would be the general assumption, wind demon." Oh no, he was getting impatient. Jin had to tread carefully, but quickly.  
  
"There were rumors tha' yu' were seen down 'ere," Jin supplied quickly. It was true. That's exactly what the demon-hunter had told them. Rumors.  
  
"You begin to annoy me, wind demon. Tell all or lose all," murmured the voice, seeming coming from all around.  
  
How the hells was he doing that?  
  
"Okay, jus' dun go an getcher toights in a taunt!" Jin snarled, quickly deducing a believable story. "We got hired by Rift Town Bounty Rings t' come an' find yu. That way we could tell th' load o' freeloaders where t' go t' be claimin' th' mother o' all bounties on yer 'ead. Touya's bein' th' best there is at this trackin' stuff an' we work as a team so we came down 'ere lookin."  
  
There a small chuckle, black and grating of the ninja's sensitive ears. "Very good, wind demon."  
  
Jin relaxed just slightly, feeling some tension ease from his shoulders. Okay, okay. He just had to keep this freak talking, keep him distracted. This was a dangerous game he was playing here. His ears were so rigid and twitchy he feared he'd pull something in all the anxiety. However, his moment of calm was replaced by screaming terror at the demon's next words.  
  
"But not good enough. You and your friend will be mine by the end of the next sun fall," purred that invisible demon. Minna squeaked and made a small sobbing sound into Jin's shoulder. There was a perverse laugh, twisted and distorted. "That ice demon intrigues me. If he's as clever the tracker as you say I may have use for him."  
  
"_Shite_!" Jin hissed and sped away toward the town, hoping, praying, that Touya had reached the doctor's. If he was still on the road and that freak caught up to him the ice demon's chances of getting away unscathed were slim to none. Touya was fast though, and strong. If he hadn't been distracted or paused for any reason then he might have made it there. Jin could only hope that he would wait around to speak with the cleric about the illness and not get caught alone on the road coming back.

** . . .**

**  
**  
"I've never seen anything like it," the cleric said, awe-struck and a bit frightened.  
  
The healer was a professional. She'd seen everything and faced epidemics that she alone had escaped with an immunity born of healer strength, but it was obvious she was glad that an intelligent and – most importantly – powerful demon was here to assist. Her long brown hair was falling from its bun, her orange and blue striped skin was a bit pale for her species, and her bright blue eyes were sunken and shadowed. Over all she looked harassed and exhausted.  
  
"They've been pouring in by the droves and the result is all the same. They all exhibit the same symptoms: Coughing, fever, irritability violence, and delusions." She ticked off the warning signs one by one on her long, delicate fingers.  
  
Touya frowned and folded his arms over his narrow chest, face becoming darker. "How is it being passed on? Any ideas, I've only just encountered it."  
  
"That's the _only_ good news I've got for you, ice demon," said the fatigued woman. "Looks as if it's passed through blood. Most of these idiots are tavern trash who got in a brawl. One of them must have had it."  
  
"Any indication to why they all experience the same hallucinations. They all seem to share their nightmares," he uttered softly, eyes flickered aside.  
  
Minna's mother was lying prostrate on the bed nearby, limbs strapped to the bed. Her face was wide awake and staring at nothing, her eyes drilling ceaselessly into some unseen void, hypnotized by the empty space before her. Her body, which had been thrashing and burning up with fever only a half hour ago was now still as death and chill as a corpse. Only the small rise and fall of her chest indicated any life in her at all. Touya's quick look at all the other patients filling every bed from wall to wall in the healer's shine each showed varying stages of the illness. Some screaming, some coughing, others stone still as Minna's mother.  
  
The healer, Zeelah by name, shook her head tiredly. "They all become comatose in the end. I've mind probed several and they either have gone brain dead or babble in their brain the words nevermore, eyes, darkness and other madness."  
  
Touya moved across the room, weaving slowly through the bed-ridden patients. "Which ones go brain dead?"  
  
Zeelah paused, thinking while she followed the slender ice demon through the room, watching him closely. "The lower level ones. I have one D-class superior who retains a level of ... consciousness if not sanity. He's very calm, but he insists that he's looking for his raven or something like that. He killed most of the patients around him."  
  
Touya glanced at the cleric. "What is your class?" he asked, though he had a fairly decent idea already. Zeelah lifted her chin slightly, a bit defiant.  
  
"C-class inferior," she said as if daring him to refute it. "I have several guilds following me already. I'm the best healer for leagues."  
  
Touya nodded. That was expected of a C-class, inferior or intermediate. Once she reached superior she'd probably be leading a small cult of clerics. If either Touya or Jin had so desired either of them could have claimed several factions of shinobi guilds and easily spread their influence across a level of the Makai. They had both reached A-class intermediate, Jin edging on superior.  
  
"So the ones with some power are left with some semblance of mind, if not a shattered one," he muttered thoughtfully. "So it awakens the more violent side of the victim and leaves them with...memories that aren't their own."  
  
"The reference to some type of dark bird or winged creature is evident. Could a bird demon of some sort be spreading this?" Zeelah asked coming to stand across from Touya. She looked hopeful. "It's possible isn't it? What do you think?"  
  
"No," Touya shook his head. "That would be plausible save for the meaning of their hallucinations. Have you noticed they seem to rhyme?"  
  
The pretty cleric looked perplexed and then stunned. "_Poetry_? They're reciting _poetry_?!"  
  
Touya nodded. "Its not just poetry though. The demoness I brought in called me 'little angel'. I think your 'raven' might have been referring to the same creature."  
  
"Maybe the poem was dedicated to this person or something," the female cleric said speculatively.  
  
The ice demon folded his arms again, as his mind tried to link all the facts. "I've never heard this particular poem in all my years in the Makai. So either it's a personal poem, uncommon, or it doesn't come from this world." Touya glanced at Zeelah as she opened her mouth. "Yes. It's possible I simply haven't heard it before, but I doubt it. I've worked in just about every field of occupation there is."  
  
There was silence for a moment.  
  
"Oh...OK then," Zeelah said looking tongue-tied.  
  
Touya moved brusquely toward the door with a meaningful air. "I must go. I my companions are waiting for me. I'll contact you if I discover anything more."  
  
"Yes, thank you," Zeelah said looking faintly disappointed, and somewhat anxious. "Do hurry if you hear anything."  
  
Touya closed the door behind him as he left. The ice demon took his time, walking normally down the dusty path through the trees. The obscure shadows of the millennia old boughs cast dark shadows over him, blotting out the ever dark skies. The trees were giants all large enough for Touya to walk around once in a whole minute not accounting for the arching and warped tangle of roots that battled for ground on the forest floor. After a couple more millenniums only one of these trees would remain after sucking all the others dry of life.  
  
He believed one of the semi-finalists in the Dark Tournament use weapons created using wood from such a tree. Powerful substances, rare in the making and more dangerous to get. Most trees that ancient developed a violent awareness that would result in a Blood Oak with all the viciousness of a Death Tree; drinking up the blood of the demons that got too close.  
  
Touya felt a flicker of amusement.  
  
Everything about his world was kill or be killed right down to the plants.  
  
"What a sad existence," he speculated aloud, looking up at the trees' swaying canopy. "Live until you die at the hands of another, knowing that it's coming and only trying to prolong it by getting stronger. But no matter how strong you are something will come against you eventually. Something you can't stop, or fight. Everything in this world that is beautiful is dangerous and the more hideous creature might be pathetic in comparison. A twisted world. How do we live like this?"  
  
"Ahh," sighed familiar silken voice from behind, the shinobi. "I _knew_ you were tired of living, little ice demon."  
  
Training and instinct kicked in before Touya's conscious reaction and the ice dmeon ducked and rolled. Pain ripped through his lower and back, tearing flesh and spraying a heavy coating of crimson on the ninja's clothing. Touya hit the ground rolling, gritting his teeth as his injured back hit the uneven, root filled ground. As he came to his feet Touya darted out of perception, leaping against the trunk of a tree and launching off it. A powerful spring catapulted the slender ice youkai into the bough of the trees and he leapt from branch to branch with speed matched by few in the Demon World.  
  
The wound burned like a living flame on his back, grinding its smoldering fingers into his spine and raking them across his back. Touya was dizzy with it, but forced himself on with a quick change of mind set, compelling the pain from his mind and slowing his heart rate with a whim to prevent blood loss. Touya did all this while still running as fast as demonically possible. Unfortunately he could still feel the splashes of hot blood pouring from his back. It was a deep injury. He'd have to stop and tend it soon.  
  
Touya, through the pain, cursed himself.  
  
They'd gotten sloppy. The hunting party had been the last straw in a growing haystack of idiotic things he'd let slide over the last few weeks. It seemed their target had finally managed to double back on them and sneak around to attack from behind. Now he and Jin were being hunted! This was _exactly_ what he'd been trying to prevent. Why he'd been so careful, so wary. Now it all hit the fan.  
  
He had to contact her!  
  
Touya reached quickly into his tunic to pull a communicator from a side pocket. Flicking it open he waited for it to buzz slowly to life. It flickered, sputtered and finally glowed alive. The interference of the demonic forest was affecting the reception. Touya gritted his teeth in anger this time. Twice the fool he was for taking this route.  
  
Finally the words 'LINK OPENED' flashed on the screen.  
  
"Shizuru!" he said quickly, lifting the small mirror to his mouth. "It's Touya. I'm in the Dame Yume Forest. We have a problem! _Karasu knows we're here_. Jin and I are going to get out of here before-"  
  
"You die?" an amused voice interrupted, sending soul-freezing fear through the ice youkai.  
  
Touya stifled a shouted and pain as his arm was snagged in a painful grip and wretched back. The ninja felt the familiar agony of a dislocated shoulder as the horrible pain lanced through him, breaking through the wall of numbness he'd forced up as his back slammed into the trunk of the tree he'd been racing across. His clenched blue eyes flew open as his communicator was smashed from his fingers and tumbled away into the foliage below. The next instant Touya felt his upper arms pinned hard against the tree trunk, forcing down at his sides and held tight..  
  
And he was staring straight into the most chilling set of amethyst eyes he'd ever seen.  
  
Touya felt his body relax as his mind fought to assimilate the reality of who was pinning him up against the tree. His lips parted and he breathed the name that Kuzuma Kuwabara's sister had hissed to him when he'd asked who the target was, the same creature that had very nearly torn Kurama to pieces at the Dark tournament and come back from the grave to try and fail to finish the job.  
  
"Karasu..."  
  
The ebon haired demon seemed to grow somehow as he chuckled. Beautiful, horrible, violet eyes glittered and gleamed a strange ruby color as cruel intent seeped into his gaze. Dressed in a dark leather jacket, adorned in black metal clasps and belts the demon looked more dangerous and terrible than he had at the tournament. Or maybe it was just that strange arrogant satisfaction and amusement he seemed to have, a hundred times more perverse than what Kurama had once described. His bared, clawed hands on Touya's biceps were firm but almost gentle, as if daring him to struggle, the taller youkai looming over the diminutive ice demon, staring down at him while slowly moving in closer, closing the space between them, murder in his eyes. Touya knew without having to see that under that mask he was smiling.  
  
"Life is so wearing on you, Touya. It drags at your body, scrapes away your soul," the quest demon whispered, his forehead almost bending to touch Touya's, face slowly drawing nearer. The shinobi turned his head aside, keeping his face impassive with an act of will few, perhaps not even Kurama could have accomplished. The Makai Crow only smiled. "So cold. I knew you'd be like this. Like him. Proud, intelligent, perhaps not as lovely, but certainly a close second, but don't let that interfere with our relationship."  
  
The sadistic demon leered insanely.  
  
"The one between murderer and victim. Surely Kurama has told you the intimacy of it." Those eyes seemed to fill Touya. "He did kill me after all."  
  
The Ice Master's entire being recoiled from the hideous creature, feeling the lust for blood and pain radiating from the monster's presence. But as quickly as horror and abhorrence took root in his mind, so did another instinct.  
  
Survival. The primal need to live.  
  
_-I will_ NOT _die!-  
_  
Touya drew a fast breath and screamed his defiance at the immoral in a single vocal roar that made the temperature hit 10 degrees below zero in a second. An instant later the entire sky erupted with snow, blue energy coiling in the ice demon's slender body and exploding out from him as his entire body flexed with the unbridled power. The searing cold encased his attacker's body in an instant. The glittering amethyst eyes clouded over with a sheet of ice, raven black hair hanging in a rigid wave down his ramrod stiff back. Wrenching himself free of the frozen grip Touya leapt down from the tree and dove into the battling bulges and waves of up thrust roots that was the forest floor.  
  
Swiftly the ice demon ducked into the shadows of the tangled roots, slipping, cat-like into the darkness and pressing his back against the damp, earthy wood. The ice demon forced himself to stop panting, willing his body to relax as he stilled his racing pulse. Shielding his energy he sank deeper into the darkness, receding into the void under the roots and summoning up a long, razor sharp ice blade to encase his arm. He crouched and waited. If he was lucky Karasu wouldn't sense him and leave. If he was unlucky, but strategy prevailed than Karasu would lean down to see and Touya could get a clean shot.  
  
If he was unlucky all together...  
  
Karasu would simply blast the entire forest floor.  
  
"Come now, Touya."  
  
The ice demon tensed at the sultry purr drifting through the gap in the roots just over his head. He knew Karasu had to be right on top of him. He heard the sound of hands being laid softly against rough bark.  
  
"It would be easier not to resist." There was a menacing pause. In the cold he'd summoned he could see his aggressor's breath fog the air beside his cheek. "It would hurt much less."  
  
Touya, feeling something he had not before, gripped his right wrist and angled his blade vertical. Blue eyes frigid he uttered his next words almost inaudibly.  
  
"Go to _hell_."  
  
He slammed the blade up through the gap and felt impact coupled with a soft grunt of either pain or surprise. He ripped the blade free and lunged away, should Karasu try to detonate the tiny hollow he crouched in, quickly lunged and weaving through the maze of thick roots. Finally, Touya stopped, shoving himself into yet another grotto of thick tree roots and waiting, shadows playing across his pale face like paint. He glanced at his ice blade and felt a small spark of satisfaction to see blood running down its length. Touya waited, body strained to its limit, senses searching for the quest demon's presence.  
  
Silence passed; a long silence that seemed to stretch endlessly. Touya only heard a single whisper, so unsubstantial it could have been imagined.  
  
"You only prolong the inevitable, Ice Master...In the end you will both belong to me..."  
  
Touya waited still, listening: silence there...and nothing more. He had no idea for how long he crouched there, tensed, uncertain if Karasu would be willing to lay in wait for him to emerge. He was crazy. His mind was not as predicable, nor logical. But what could he do? If he remained too long Jin would wonder where he'd gone and Karasu had mentioned the word 'both'. Did he mean to go after Jin as well?  
  
A sickening shudder slithered down the youkai's back; making him shiver with the only cold he was capable of feeling.  
  
The cold of fear.  
  
"TOUYA!!!"  
  
The poor ice demon very nearly killed the demon who dropped from the sky beside the opening of his hide away. The pair of bare feet circled in a quick loop, a familiar, loud, voice shouting his name with desperation of near hopelessness. A small, childish voice joined the male voice, girlish tone squeaking out the ice demon's name again and again like an echo. The first voice only intensified in anxiety.  
  
"TOUYA!! Come on an' answer meh! Touya!! _TOUYA_!!"  
  
"Jin. Jin, stop shouting I'm right here," Touya croaked, emerging stiffly from beneath the low hanging crevasse of wood.  
  
Startled by his comrade's sudden appearance the Wind Master spun around with a sharp yelp. The moment his brilliant blue eyes alighted on his friend, alive and in one piece the wind youkai whooped and lunged to grab his surly friend in a tight hug. The smaller demon was instantly crushed into his team mate's vice-like hold. Usually Touya would have rolled his eyes or just let his friend do as he wished with rigid tolerance, but this time he was grateful that Jin was the spastic person he was. He needed to know he wasn't by himself for this one.  
  
"Karasu," Touya rasped as Jin stepped back from him. Though he hadn't screamed more than once or twice his voice had been reduced to a painful whisper. "He knows we're here."  
  
"I know. Th' son o' a bitch gave us a li'l visit," Jin said darkly, pointing over his shoulder to the little girl fastened about his shoulders. "Nicked me neck but didn' ge' Minna. Said e' was comin' fer yu' so I sped 'ere fast as I was bein' able t'."  
  
"YAY!!! Toy-boy ish alive!!! YAY!!!" cheered the strange little child on the redhead's shoulders. She waved her arms about enthusiastically. "Good, good!! WOO!"  
  
Touya felt exhausted. His whole body ached and his back was burning like fire. Touya was beginning to fear poison or infection. This type of pain was different than that of a clean wound. Jin frowned, sensing something was wrong as Touya seemed to pale visibly.  
  
"Touya?"  
  
"I think...lost too much blood...too weak..." Touya gasped. His eyes glazed suddenly, growing dim as he slumped to his knees, coughing dust from his dry throat. The pain in his back was excruciating and he felt so dizzy, everything reeling strangely. Jin instantly crouched beside his friend, placing Minna on the ground away from them to wait. He positioned a hand on Touya's shoulder, steadying the ice demon as he regained his sense of balance.  
  
"Yu' need t' be restin' or you'll be getting' yerself killed," Jin said softly. "Those are needin' t' be bandaged."  
  
Touya nodded, silent, keeping his lips pursed in a thin line that indicated both pain and exhaustion, He slowly let Jin guide him to lean against a root. "I – I don't know...what's wrong. I just feel so tired..." he murmured, wincing as he lifted his slashed tunic from his lower back.  
  
Jin hissed in sympathy as the bloody ruin that his friend's back had become. "Karasu's a tricky one. Yu' lost blood an' who knows where his nasty stickers have been," Jin joked, gently while reaching into a secret cache of gauze hidden in his plain cloth belt. Touya produced a small pile of snow for Jin to wash the wound with, hissing in pain as the water made the cuts sting. Jin deftly wrapped his comrade's lower torso in the bandages, wrapping tightly until there was a thick layer of clean white cloth about his friend's injured back.  
  
"We kin just rest here. Karasu won't be tryin' nothin' again in so soon. I kin keep watch," Jin assured Touya who swayed unsteadily; reaching up a shaky hand to hold his head.  
  
Touya nodded again, eyes closing wearily, startling Jin. The ice demon didn't even put up a complaint about moving to someplace more secure, or trying to assess the situation. He only sighed softly, tiredly, and lowered himself to the ground. He just coiled on the forest floor and pillowed his head on his arms, face relaxing as his body went limp. He was asleep in moments.  
  
Minna yawned and totter over to recline against the dozing Ice Master. She shivered pleasurably and curled against the smaller demon's stomach, snuggling his body.  
  
"He's all cold..." she muttered, slipping into unconsciousness.  
  
Jin was left alone to set the watch. His bright sky blue eyes stormy with troubles unseen roiling behind his usually cheerful façade. The winds swirled ominously about the trio all night long. The gentle, warning murmurs of the winds telling Jin of the approach of any creatures, the fall of a new leaf, the shift of a dozing bird in the trees. So alert was he to the sound of the forest, to the keening voices of the wind that he didn't here the muttering of either Touya or Minna in their sleep.  
  
"The silence was unbroken..." Touya whispered shivering suddenly, his skin glistening with a thin sheen of sweat. His slender fingers clenched and unclenched as dark nightmares boiled through his mind, poisoning his psyche. "Un...broken ...silence...unbroken..."  
  
"And the stillness..." Minna giggled, pawing the air playfully in her sleep. "Gave no token...hee hee. Token..."  
  
**$%$%$%$%$%$%  
  
_Quoth the Raven..._  
  
$%$%$%$%$%$%  
**  
{Me} If you have any question leave them in my little box and I say gladly answer. Improvements? Mistakes to edit? Ideas? I'm open to all of it. Feel free.  
  
{Cloud8.9 speaks from under a pile of candy} I have been huggled, glomped and showered in sweets for the last couple chapters... {drags himself out from under the pile on to be huggled by yet another reviewer} AHHH!!! Make it stop!  
  
{Me} I'm enjoying this, but to business. Shadow Fox777 noticed my little change in the spelling of Yu-kun's name. I've been experimenting and I dunno...I kinda like the double 'U' spelling of Yuusuke, it's a bit more formal and since he's now officially lord of the Third Realm I figured formal works.  
  
Oh and a quick shout out to Kadesh! Any add-in's with out favorite fox are thanks to her. I hadn't planned to bring him until way later, but I want to satisfy you Kurama lovers out there. So thank Kadesh.   
  
Read! Review! And most importantly: Enjoy!


	5. Serenity Now

**Disclaimer: **Fine! I admit it! I don't own Edger Allan Poe. I don't own _The Raven_ but a really wish I did. Nor do I own Seinfeld, for those of you who know what I stole. As for that song sung by Zane in the last chapter...that was miiine!! You can't have it! Read my lips...go to hell, coppers. Thank you.

**Story Thus Far:** Well things have spiced up a bit for Touya and Jin. Karasu has finally made his appearance and injured the Ice Master badly. Shizuru has gone sadistic bitch on Cloud and there was that weird singing guy in the coffee shop...what the hell?

And I must make this perfectly clear:

"blah" : speaking

=blah= : Onishin (demon speak; I only use this if one of the parties present does not speak Onishin, like a human, if they're all demons and their all in the Makai with no human about assume that their speaking Onishin)

-_blah_- : thinking

-"_blah_"- : telepathic speaking (mind to mind)

Enjoy Chapter 5!

**. . .**

**Serenity Now...**

**. . .**

Someone had once told Cloud something. Not just something as in coffee house chit-chat, but really told him something. It was back when he'd been forced to occupy the human world, hiding and skulking from his pursuers and hoping to bury his past in the dust clouds left by hotfooting it thousands of miles away from the Makai.

It had been a weird encounter. One of the surreal moments you have trouble thinking back on clearly. He couldn't have told you who it was, or why he'd felt this affinity for them, but he did. Period. (Detail and curiosity proceed to give him dirty looks) Nope. Nothing. Not even gender. The speaker was an 'it' in Cloud's mind.

Anyway, back to the point. This person had said something Cloud had taken to heart like the gospel truth. Something the verilee had clenched his hand around like a drowning man to a life line and never let go of.

"Kid...Remember something. Killing is never good. Never, but unfortunately it seems to be necessary. But necessity and frivolousness are two very different things." The enigmatic speaker had stopped to do something. Stir something, fold something, who knew?

"Don't confuse the two. When you kill you should feel it every time but only for a moment. You can't afford to let guilt of necessity drag you down or slow your trigger fingers. But when you pull the trigger and feel nothing as a life ends..." Cloud distinctly remembered the insidious flare of hell-freezing gravity to the speaker's next words. The dark angel had literally shivered under the weight of that glare, the sudden ominous aura that radiated from the nameless orator.

"Then God help you, hot-shot. God help you, because there is no coming back from that. Life is precious. Never end it frivolously because once you do finding your morality again will be near impossible. I don't think you want to lose that..." A quirk of an eyebrow. "Do you?"

The dark angel rubbed his face with an aggravated sigh, slender fingers massaging his temples to release the pressure point building behind his crimson eyes. The thunderous rumble of lightening overhead alerted the immortal to the boiling Makai fire-storm brewing over the city. He didn't care. He liked firestorms with their dragon-flame explosions, raining tongues of fire all over the sky and dazzling the eyes, leaving him blinded for a moment before the afterimage of a firework eruption played behind his eyelids for hours afterward.

The wind picked up, roaring like a great beast, swiping insubstantial claws through Cloud's unruly blond hair, dragging it into his brooding scarlet eyes. Like a nest of snakes his gold-dusted hair danced on his head in the gales of pre-tempest breezes, waving crazily atop his scalp. His slitted red eyes bore intensely into nothing. His legs drawn up to his chest, arms folded haphazardly over his knees with his gently pointed chin resting lightly on top.

-Never forget how to feel. Never forget the significance of death.

That, like the image of Shizuru, had followed him forever from the Ningenkai. He knew. He knew that he had to care. He could not let himself fall into that apathetic state of mind in which the lives of others reduced to so many candle flames in an ocean of light. All meaningless. He would snuff four thousand and still there would be so many more out there blinding him that he wouldn't bat an eye.

Ever since he'd crawled out of those mountain forests he'd promised himself he'd never lose himself again. He'd been a puppet once, a pathetic marionette to Karasu's twisted wiles. Never again. Never again. But unfortunately old roles mold to your body like a glove. In just a few hours Cloud had been drawn back into the familiar position, eagle spread, the puppet strings fastened to his wrists all over again.

Clenching his hands until the worn leather groaned, the verilee pressed his knotted fingers against the centre of his forehead. The well known ache of frustration building in his skull, threatening to either burst his skull or throw an tantrum of massive proportions in his brain, thereby, breaking things, possibly important things in his poor psyche.

Puppet again. Just a cats-paw and another pawn to be placed on this perpetual chess board.

A game he was fast growing sick of.

**. . .**

"They're not responding," Alaster said grimly after checking and rechecking Shizuru's com-link mirror.

Alaster turned to her with a sober expression on his angelic face. His tail was lashing nervously back and forth, his anxiety showing in the way he nearly swallowed the lemon-drop on his tongue several times. He paced the room restlessly as if the movement in his legs would prompt functions in his brain stem. Shizuru had awoken early this morning to the muffled vibrations of her com-mirror under her back. A quick check revealed a message had been left but the static had been too horrible to decipher the distorted message. The only thing they could tell for sure was the identity of the speaker in the scattered moments of clarity where a low, calming male voice had uttered the words 'knows' 'Jin' and 'before'.

Touya.

Shizuru closed her tawny eyes and sank back against the window sill, one boot braced against the opposite side of the frame while her other hung down to brush the floor inside. Her spine fell back against the hard barrier as she turned her face down. She ran delicate but callused fingers through her tussled golden-brown tresses. She paused a moment, head bent over, hands entangled in her shorn gold and russet mix hair. A deafening boom of the awe-striking, but relatively harmless fire-storm out side sent an incredible bloom of light and flames to explode and illuminate the skies outside. For a moment Shizuru's nubile body was out lined in brilliant gold and red before it faded into a near pitch-darkness.

"We proceed as planned," Shizuru said flatly, voice cold and unnaturally calm. "We go to the rendezvous point and wait. Give it a bit. If they don't show we do it ourselves."

Alaster swallowed, uncertain if he dared to ask his next question, fearing for the wellbeing of his person. He liked having his tail attached to his butt and he feared the first thing Shizuru would do in her current state would be biting his tail off as just retribution for being such a pain in his ass. He didn't doubt her capability of it. She'd been bound and tied by the wrists during one of her more dangerous infiltration missions and still managed to control her captors. By pinning one of them on to ground and threatening to gnaw his ear off if they didn't untie her she cleanly turned the tables and cleared the path for her fellow teammates to accomplish their objective.

Not only that, but Shizuru tended to get freaky obsessive over doing Karasu in. She'd backhanded Alaster (not hard or anything) for suggesting she take a break from it and go visit the others. She'd gotten a horrible look in her eyes and laughed 'What others?' before storming away for the day. She apologized profusely when she'd retuned later that night, but it did nothing to cloud Alaster's new perspective on his adopted sister. She could be volatile at times and that could be dangerous on a mission like this.

Quite dangerous.

Alaster battled with his own sense of self preservation and finally forced himself into asking the question.

"What about Cloud?" he ventured, knowing the verilee's reaction to this news would probably be less than favorable. Hadn't it been him who suggested that trackers to find Karasu was pure folly worthy of idiot children? The half-fox youkai cringed, waiting for the snappish reply or angry snarl to be launched at him. However, the boy was surprised as the human girl merely shook her head and straightened up. Sighing she lounged in the sill with a lazy gesture of his hand.

"No. Don't tell him anything. As far as he knows everything is going off without a hitch."

Alaster crossed the floor as light rained from the scarlet skies to fill the city with trails of glittering gold dust. Her gaze was upon something outside, watching the roof of the building about a block away. The half-kitsune cocked his head and squinted at the roof top. Another burst of light from overhead clarified what the darkness had hidden.

Seated upon the roof top was the familiar darkly clad figure of their newly recruited shadowkai. His face seemed upturned to the skies, entranced by the dancing fall of fire and light. Wreathed in the brilliant radiance of the firestorm he seemed to be surrounded with an aura of fire. The wind threw his too-big trench coat around his lithe body like a living shadow.

Alaster looked at her. "You used to say he was an incredible person."

"I was naive," she replied calmly. Alaster watched her lift a hand before her eyes, outstretched toward Cloud's solitary form. The glitter of fire made her mocha cream eyes burn from inside out as her palm eclipsed the dark angel. "He's nothing."

She clenched her hand tight, giving her eyes the illusion of crushing the fair-haired warrior in her grip. Alaster watched the burning in her eyes with a quiet sadness. She lowered her hand, unfurling her fingers from their knotted fist as she watched the dark angel rise and leap lightly from the rooftop and into the vacant streets.

"He's nothing."

Alaster said nothing. Nothing out loud anyway. He did, after all, value his tail, but inwardly he felt the pull at his heart strings as he silently asked himself (and Shizuru) the question.

_-If he's nothing...then why does his suffering bring that light into your eyes, Sis?- _

**. . .**

Koenma was trembling from head to foot. His entire body quaked with exhaustion that threatened to take his legs right out from underneath him. His pale skin was coated with sweat, beading on his forehead and trickling from his face into his bright honey-hued eyes. His hand shook so terribly Koenma was terrified his father's cruel attention would be drawn to the movement. The prince was loath to show weakness before his father, but he could no more stop his body's reactions than he could command the sun to stop rising every morning.

-"Konema"- The boom voice assaulted the young ruler's mind a dull razor, ripping through his thoughts and obliterating the mental barriers he'd worked hours to build. The dizzying affects of the mental violation nearly caused the brunette's knees to buckle under. Only by sheer force of will was he able to remain standing through Enma's interrogation. Squaring his shoulders, he lifted his head slightly, trying to hide his pain with a mask of pride.

"Yes, father?" asked the deity calmly.

The cavernous voice slammed through his brain like a rusty nail driven through his skull. Koenma's world reeled under the strain of maintaining mental contact with his sire for so long. The stress of telepathy for such an extended time was more than the demi-god to take. His psychic abilities were phenomenal (not quite like Hiei's) but while simple speaking through the mind was child's play, preventing a much more powerful being from ripping your mind open like an eggshell was a shade more difficult.

Koenma wasn't afraid to admit he was near his breaking point.

_-"Why do you use such shielded words with me, my son? Can you not speak openly with your own father?"-_

-_You mean let you dip your greedy fingers into my brain and pick out where Botan's gone. Yeah, sure thing, Pops_.- thought Koenma sarcastically to himself.

_-"I'm simply strengthening my shields. I'd like my thoughts to myself, father."-_

Truth was he'd be damned before he willingly allowed his father to see his mind. He'd done that for far too long as a child and Enma had used that knowledge to spread trouble throughout the Makai without Koenma's knowledge. The young prince wasn't about to let that happen again. For the sake of the Reikai Tantei and its former members he would never let that happen.

However Koenma greatly feared the privacy of such thoughts wouldn't be his for long. Enma was persistent in his mental assaults. Every thought he sent was laced with destructive telepathic energy that ravaged his son's mind, steadily, painfully stripping away his psychic walls of protection. With every new layer ripped brutally away Koenma suffered a more intimate rape of his mind, feeling his very being was being taken from him. The pain sent involuntary tremors up and down his slender body, making him nauseous.

-_"If one didn't know better they'd say you had something to hide, Koenma. Do you agree with this sentiment?"-_ Enma inquired in a dark, gravely voice that grated away at the Prince's shields like sandpaper.

Koenma struggled to maintain his focus, to keep his barrier in place. He didn't think he could stand having someone else in his head after all this time. He'd finally come back to himself, found his own thoughts. He didn't want anyone, especially a sadistic bastard like Enma crawling through his brain, father or not. But he felt...so...weak. Much more strain would break him; damage his psyche with possibly un-healable wounds.

_-"Of course not. I'm coming to age. I find my new found independence most satisfying if you don't mind."-_

_-"I rather DO mind Koenma. It's becoming most vexing to me,"-_ Enma retorted, anger adding agonizing razors to his mental intrusions. The Rekai Prince clenched his hands, head arching back as he screamed silently, forcing his mind to withstand the probing attempts to enter his inner most thoughts. As his defenses frayed, Koenma was numbly aware of his surface thoughts, slipping through, scattered mental words slipping through even the under-thoughts that he did not direct to his father were starting to leak out.

He sensed his sire's self satisfaction as he reached out to feel out the stray feelings. Frantic Koenma did the first thing he could think of to hide his real emotions. Closing his eyes he quickly chanted a mantra he'd once learned for calming the mind. A trick he'd asked of Genkai.

-_Can't let...him...no...clear my head. Clear. Nothing. Genkai's temple, quiet, gentle calming. Nothing. Nothing. Clear my head-_

_-"What is this gibberish in your head!? Muttering the name of some long dead human wench. Are you attempting to empty your thoughts? Why are you being so stubborn, Koenma!?"-_ The higher deity sounded furious, his attempt foiled and producing no results to finding the lost Grim Reaper.

_-"I...I want my thoughts to myself. If you'll pardon me father I have work to attend. Yoko seems to have cause more trouble. I bid you farewell"-_

_-" KOENMA!"-_ The mental roar blasted through the last of the boy's mental shields and Koenma screamed as he was struck down through the telepathic connection. His arms flew up to block some unseen presence bit it did little good to stop the devastating blow to his psyche. His body buckled under the strain of the greater deity's mind against his own and sent him crashing to the floor, head striking the ground hard as his abused body slid to the ground.

The younger deity screamed in agony as acidic pain spread through his mind, immobilizing him on the ground while his feeble barriers were ripped from him. As if last defenses fell away he felt the mind of another overpower his mentality and body. Koenma's yell for help went unheard as he knew it would. After all his father only spoke with him while he was locked securely in his bed chambers where no one could hear him cry out if the mental strain was too much for him. Koenma thrashed on the floor, clawing at the marble floors and writhing pathetically under the telepathic intrusions of his own father.

The teenager coiled and curled into a fetal position on the floor, one trembling arm reaching vainly for the door, pleading silently that someone would hear. He felt mental claws sink into his brain and disable his body's nervous system. Instantly the boy sagged on the ground, falling into weak convulsions golden orbs being drained of all awareness trapping him in his own head.

_-"You can hide nothing from me, son. Now where is Botan?"-_

_-"I – I don't know!"-_

_-"You're lying. She's fled to that half-breed Lord of the Third Realm at your own suggestion. I've very disappointed in you Koenma."-_

_-"Don't hurt her! She's done nothing!"-_ Koemma pleaded, quickly switching tactics. -"_By the time you find her she'll be in Yuusuke's – AAAHHH!!!!"- _The teenaged deity broke off screaming as cold mental claws scored deep hits through his mind, tearing through his being in a manner that sent the boy into a fit of sobbing. Tears poured down his contorted face as he shivered on the floor.

_-"That creature is not worthy to be mentioned in such a casual manner Koenma. He is a borderline rebel and is a threat to us."-_

_-" T-to you."-_ Koenma bit back, all façade of respect or loyalty falling away. What did it matter? He could see it all anyway. Might as well enjoy being open. _–"Not m-my fault you're an asshole, daddy-dearest."-_

_-"Look how they've contaminated you my son. You used to be a child of respect, growing into a true leader. Now you're a sniveling brat unwilling to show your father proper due."-_

_-"I'll give you proper due you bastard! Go and -,"-_

Perhaps it was for the best that Enma decided he'd heard enough of his son's foul mouth. With a casual thrust of his mind Enma pierced into the deepest part of Koenma's mind and eradicated the teenager's only remaining mental defenses. Koenma's entire body bucked and thrashed in reaction to the violation. His deepest thoughts, emotions and memories were surgically extracted from his mind, ripped from his psyche like some kind of sick prize. The tearing, shredding of his own spirit was all Koenma could comprehend. Tears of ultimate betrayal and shame burst from his great golden eyes, pouring down his pale face and splashing on the tiles.

_-"This information...how did you discover this?! Clever boy, you've been playing the double agent all this time.-"_ Enma laughed into his child's fraying mind. _–"However there is much here we could use. I hope you don't mind if I share your intellect with a few of my associates. This won't hurt for long."-_

As if having his very soul bared wasn't a desecration on the deepest level, Koenma felt his father calling to someone. With in moments there were other voices.

Voices, strangers in his head.

The Reikai Prince screamed in horror as multiple minds entered his own; probing, seeking and going through his memories like they were casual articles in a magazine. He felt their amusement at his true self. He wasn't a fighter at heart; he was irresponsible, spoiled, and childish even. Not just that as a coward he risked the lives of his friends frivolously, pathetic in comparison to some of the Reikai Tantai. Demons, cutthroats and street-rats all possessed more character. How could he be of Reikai heritage?

Shame and pain brought tears to the teenager's eyes, making the beautiful deity clench his teeth to keep from sobbing in humiliation. Worse than being exposed to completely to these strangers, Enma, his own father, tyrant or not, did nothing to lighten the blow. He stood aside, watching as these other beings freely took from his own flesh and blood. The raping mental eyes explored every corner of Koenma's mind, taking apart every memory, every thought, laughing shamelessly at what they found entertaining. They weren't gentle about it, when a feeble barrier got in their way they tore through it, drawing screams from the Reikai Prince.

He wasn't sure if he shouted for help. He didn't remember if he begged. He knew he fought, resisted but like the child he was compared to his father he was easily overcome. Pinned to the ground by some great weight on his mind and body the striking, young prince was violated on the most intimate level and then cast aside. The strangers in mind withdrew from him and left him alone in his decimated thoughts.

_-"The child knew much,"_- remarked one of the voices softly. It was gentle, sultry and female. She sounded most displeased. _–"He's managed to leak everything to that Urameshi creature. We are fortunate he never got the opportunity to exploit that last pocket of information he found."-_

-_"Enma. I'm shocked. You allowed the boy this much freedom? Think of the damage he could have done if we had not discovered it. All my fun would have been ruined,"-_ chuckled a dark, velvety voice. Male, his voice lightly sing-song and insane. –"_Clever brat. With a bit of reteaching he'd be a good successor...or he'd make an attractive front-man."-_

_-"Ooh!! He's pretty! Can I have him?!"-_ asked a girlish voice eagerly. The tone of her speech wasn't particularly youthful, but she spoke immature and childishly playful. The other minds were somewhat irritated by her. _–"Oh please! PLEASE!!"-_

_-"Shuttup! You've taken enough from him to satisfy your sadistic needs. Now if you've slaked your thirst for pain. I have things to attend to,"_ snapped the female voice. _–"The one I seek is most slippery indeed. He'd simply vanished from this world and the next. I cannot pause in my searching. Farewell and thank you for the most amusing and enlightening distraction, Enma. Your son is quite intelligent. Much longer and he'll be dangerous."-_

-_"Thanks why we broke him, Eldia, my dear,"-_ laughed the velvety male voice in a somewhat neurotic manner. –"_And I just think the little princeling would make a wonderful toy for Miss. Jenny here."-_

_-"YAY!! See! See! He likes me!"-_ Jenny squealed frantically eager to prove her point and get what she wanted.

_-"All of you! Get out of here! I didn't bring you here to chat! Koenma is my trouble."-_ thundered Enma's voice, silencing the chatting of the others three. (Jenny mostly) The trio seemed to stifle themselves, waiting for their next instructions with sober quite. _-"I'll deal with him. Get out of my sight you three. I have expectations and they'd best be met for all of your sakes."- _

Then everything stopped.

Enma was gone, Eldia, Jenny and the mysterious male voice were all gone leaving the Reikai King's only son in a trembling wreck on his bedchamber floor. No one working the Headquarters that day had an inkling of what had taken place. The ogres were exasperated as the young ruler's paper work piled up, frustrated with the flighty Koenma's lack of responsibility. Sometimes they really wondered if that boy really had what it took to be a king.

**. . .**

"Touya? Touya?"

The Ice Master moaned, a strange, injured sound coming from the usually untouchable youkai. Touya lifted a hand to cover his eyes, gritting back another groan. A gentle hand touched his shoulder and rocked him to and fro in an attempt to wake him. Urg...didn't he realize Touya was already awake? Irritated Touya opened his mouth to speak but all that emerged was a sharp hacking cough.

The demon jerked up, hands flying to his lips to cover his mouth as the chest racking explosions rattle his body. Touya's slender shoulders convulsed with every new wave, leaving the shinobi breathless and gasping. Jin, brilliant blue eyes concerned, handed Touya a canteen of water but the ice demon refused it with a quick shake of his head. Instead he produced a small pile of snow and crammed it in his mouth. It melted on his tongue and trickled down his throat slowly and soothingly relieving the soreness.

Touya's head spun.

Everything blurred and wavered as he levered himself to his hands and knees. Why did his body ache like this? He felt as if he'd been pounded from all sides by Jin's Tornado Fist technique, leaving him kitten weak and hurting. He was disgusted to find his body trembling with the mere effort of kneeling there. His cloudy azure eyes slowly began to clear and the strange roaring in his ears faded to a mild pounding. He realized with some trepidation the rumbling had been the beating of his own heart.

"Touya? Are yu' alright there, mate?" Jin sidled around to clasp his partner on the shoulder and peer up into his abnormally pale face.

His expression was unfocused and distant as if he were not quite all there. But then again Touya often assumed that expression when feeling abnormally unsociable. The semi-drugged look was a great turn off from conversation and Touya seemed to have a masterful hold on it.

Jin, frowning realized that Touya's skin was warm to the touch. That was unusual. Ice demons by nature were cool to the touch, not unpleasant to come in contact with, but while the flesh of other creature slowly warmed to the touch, an ice demon's did not. Touya's skin however was quite warm and he was drenched in a hot sweat, beads of the glistening liquid trickling down the handsome demon's pale face.

"Yu' gave me a scare there. Yu' started twitchin' an sayin' stuff in yur sleep," Jin chuckled teasingly. "Kinda weird and pretty actually. You didnah tell meh ye knew any songs loike tha'. Twas all noice an junk. "

Touya's gaze instantly snapped to focus as he pinned Jin with his twin sapphire eyes. The wind demon took full force of the stare and shifted nervously, bright blue eyes skittering back and forth as if hoping the demon happened to direct the glare to someone behind him. Minna, however was standing to Touya's left, humming happily to herself. The ice demon was obviously looking at him and the look on his face was chilling. Jin had never been on the receiving end of that particular look and it rather frightened the young Wind Master at he was having it aimed at him now.

Touya gave that kind of look to few and mostly people who received it ended up dead or severely wounded.

"What did I say?" he demanded coolly, voice even if not somewhat raw. "Do you remember what I said?"

Jin blinked, startled by the strange question. He'd been expecting some kind of retribution. Not an inquiry. Why did it matter what kind of half-wit rambling he'd been saying? Touya should know that blood-loss sometimes caused hallucinations. Jin knew for a fact that Touya was particularly sensitive to dreams when wounded. After being his traveling parent and friend for centuries he recognized Touya's reactions to battle injuries inside out. When he lost blood Touya often spoke in his sleep. What was so different about this time?

"Erm...well..." Jin faltered a moment. "I guessed yu' were singin'. Yu' were talkin' bout a lass named Lenore. Old sweet'art, Toy?"

"Did I say anything else?" Touya snapped, ignoring the wind demon's jibe. Jin, well used to Touya's blunt manner, thought this was a bit hostile even for him. Usually he would at least sigh good-naturedly at his comrade's antics but Jin guessed he was just really paranoid about something he might have said.

Scratching his head, the spit-fire Wind Master shrugged slightly. "Umm...Nowt really. I was more worried 'bout keepin' watch. Speakin' o' which, I think we ought t' get outta here. Karasu'll be comin' back. I'm sure."

"Yeah..." Touya said indistinctly. "Right."

Jin frowned at his best friend and knelt closer to the ice demon. Something was wrong. Something was off about the cast of his eyes; a strange watery blue unbecoming of the ice demon. Jin had been around Touya long enough to know Touya had a very limited range of expressions. When out of battle his face rarely changed from his mask of bored detachment. Jin had seen Touya enraged, in pain, amused, laughing, (VERY rarely) scared, confident, annoyed, whatever, but he knew Touya and he'd never seen this expression before.

That placid shade of blue in his eyes. It wasn't right. Touya was defensive at all times guarded and prepared for anything. He'd opened up very few times in his lifetime, that moment with Minna last night being one of them. His eyes were either a hard, chilling indigo of battle focus, a cold, indifferent azure for casual expression and that rare pastel cerulean of open kindness. Jin had always marveled at the ice demon's oddly tell-tale eyes for one who was so closed. (Perhaps his eyes were the very reason he was so defensive?)

That watery blue...it was wrong.

"I guess we should get going," Touya said, massaging his obviously aching head. "We...have to meet Shizuru today."

Jin bit his lip, gently so his fang didn't pierce the flesh and hooked his hands behind his neck. With a small whoosh Jin was floating cross-legged in the air, thoughtfully looking up at the trees. Stay? To meet Shizuru? But Karasu knew they were here. Their cover was blown. Meeting with Shizuru would only lead Karasu to his pursuers, right? Jin was somewhat perplexed. Did Touya seriously not think of that or was he seeing something Jin wasn't.

"Eh...Touya?"

"Hm?" The Ice Master winced and stood to his feet, face becoming unreadable once again. He stretched languorously, arching his back letting his spine crack in the quiet of the forest. Minna was watching him with a very engrossed expression, big black eyes fixed upon the ice demon as he moved. She shifted to the left...then to the right, always watching.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Jin remarked, flipping about to face his comrade. His fire red hair hung down from his head as he peered at Touya from his position floating wrong side up in the air. "Won't tha' jus' lead Karasu to his 'unters? She's gonna want the elemn' o' surprise righ'?"

Touya looked vaguely startled for a moment, face becoming disturbingly blank. Jin slowly righted himself, keeping his eyes on his partner who had gone very still.

"Toy?"

"No...you're right. You're right. That was stupid of me. Of course we can't meet her..." Touya muttered. He seemed unusually disturbed. His brow was furrowed like he was confused and upset all at once. "Of course we can't meet her...it's obvious..."

"Too-uuya?" Jin drawled, poking his friend in the shoulder. The ice demon blinked up at him, expression clearly saying 'huh?' Jin settled back on the ground beside the other demon and folded his arms over his knees. "Are yu' alright. You're actin' really spooked."

"I – guess I am," Touya said avidly, once again startling Jin. Touya never blurted his feelings, especially emotions that could perceived as weakness. Fear is one of those emotions and he'd just admitted to it. Umm...the little red flag in Jin's head told him that was not good.

"Jin...I really don't think I'm up for anything right now. I'm not thinking clearly," the smaller demon said, wrapping his arms around his knees and staring straight ahead. Jin stared at his companion with wide eyes. Touya? Not thinking clearly? Of course! That was why he was so spooked. Touya missing something so obvious must have panicked the ice demon. He knew he was out of sorts and willing to warn Jin of it.

"Dun get all twitchy'r nothin'. Yur nah feelin' righ' tha's all. You'll be back in action afore yu kin shake 'alf a stick to three!" Jin said enthusiastically. Then a frown crossed his face and he drifted in a mutter. "Or...was that 'alf a shake and count three sticks..."

"Jin?" Touya said slowly. He was staring intently at something behind the Wind Master. Minna glanced behind Jin. Blinked, then looked back at Touya with a side-eyed and excited expression.

"Huh. Can't seem t' remember. Tha's od't. Hmm..." the red-head rambled on, scratching his head. "I'm sure it'll be comin' back. Hang on a quickie I gotta think."

Minna, ignoring Jin, inched close to Touya. The ice demon's narrow chest rose and fell rapidly against his legs. He panted with difficultly and hugged his knees tighter to his body. Fresh beads of sweat trickled down his face, dripping from his skin. His breathing quickened, breath shortening as he struggled for air, fighting to breath like the air was thinning around him. He shook his head quickly, dashing sweat from his eyes.

Jin didn't see it as he rattled cheerfully on about something else, long having forgotten his original thought and gone off on a new tangent. Minna crouched beside the gasping ice demon just as he rocked forward on one hand, soft coughs bursting from his mouth. Still his eyes were trained on something behind Jin.

Minna leaned close and whispered in his ear. "What do you see?"

Touya coughed hard enough to capture Jin's undivided attention, cutting off his rapid flow of words. His shivered uncontrollably and stared through his friend, eyes haunted.

"Raven..." he gasped, breathing with difficulty he levered himself to his feet and hugged himself, shuddering in pain. "Raven. Behind you, Jin."

"Eh?" The wind demon turned to stare.

But was met by silence and an especially threatening swirl of leaves that did not much warrant the kind of terror stricken look on Touya's face. Unnerved, Jin turned to face his friend. The ice demon was fixated on the empty air, obviously convinced there was some type of black bird perched upon the roots of the Blood Oaks. With a sick feeling in his gut Jin shook his head.

"I dun see anythin'. There's nothin' there, Touya."

The smaller youkai glanced at Jin like he was crazy, not realizing the twisted irony in it. "What? No. It's right behind you," he insisted, stepping too the side and moving toward the envisioned creature. He gestured to it, looking at Jin with confusion. "See? It's right there."

"Did it say somethin'!?" Minna squealed suddenly, breaking the awkward Jin had been left to create, shock stripping him of any possible reply. The two grown youkai glanced at the little girl. She giggled and twirled on her nimble feet, dancing to and fro in playful joy. "Did it say somethin'?" she repeated.

Jin, terror slowing his reactions, turned to look at his partner, fear riddling every nerve.

Touya frowned as if offended by such a childish question and for a moment Jin felt a flicker of hope. Hope that the old Touya was still here and that all this was just a bad fluke. That his friend would shake off his sudden madness and laugh it off as blood-loss. Something, anything that didn't mean what Jin was fast concluding.

Then...

"Of course it said something," he told her, shaking his head. He folded his arms over his chest, tipping his head to look perplexedly at the little girl. "It was plain as day. Didn't you hear? It' said 'Nevermo-"

Touya stopped himself by slapping a hand over his mouth and sucking in a horrified gasp. Jin's face had drain of all color and he stood looking at his friend with an expression of utmost terror and panic. Minna laughed wildly and suddenly Jin was repulsed by the sound, shivering as she giggled and danced. Touya's face had gone blank and all thought voided from his eyes.

He let his legs buckle and fell down, knees hitting the turf hard as his other trembling hand moved up to cover the lower half of his face. Sealing his traitorous lips he clenched his eyes shut, obviously forcing himself to come to grips with the horrific connotation of what he'd just said and done. He coughed again, suddenly, his shoulders shaking and that too was damning. The ice demon finally dropped his hands and lifted his pale blue gaze to Jin's own indigo stare.

"I...I have it too," he rasped. "I don't know how...It's only passed through blood, but someone must have had it and..." He lowered his eyes and stared at his quaking hands. "The disease is passed through blood...Karasu must have killed someone with the disease and it was on his claws."

Jin, fighting the most sickening sense of dread, choked up his next words with difficulty. "How kin yu be sure?"

Touya shook his head, closing his eyes and keeping them closed as he sank back on his heels. "I'm coughing, I have fever, now I'm imagining dark birds next-,"

"Is the screaming," Minna cut in soberly. The two shinobi looked up at her, silent. The girl's face had become emotionless, her inky black eyes staring fixated into the forest where Touya had insisted a black raven had sat. All trace of laughter or joy had vanished, replaced by horrified matter-of-fact-ness. She looked at Touya with a haunted gaze. "The screaming...and then the-,"

"Death, "Touya finished for her. He'd lifted his hand and clenched it over his chest. His ribs expanded and contracted painfully, urging him to cough. Even now he felt his thoughts slowing, struggling. He could hardly speak. He had to finish this. "Jin. The illness is passed through blood. The symptoms are cough, fever, delusions of ravens, dark winged beings, tapping sounds, anything like that. Eyes! Violet eyes! Remember that one. The words 'nevermore' are common and a sure sign. Unidentified poetry concerning a raven or a girl name 'Lenore'. Then violent behavior and comatose state in regard to weaker demons."

Jin knew what Touya was doing. He was telling him everything he knew so Jin could go warm others...Because the logical ice demon didn't think he'd be able to do it himself.

"Toy...You kin foight it. Yur stronger than all th' others. They moight 'ave turned into vegetables bu' you won't!" Jin cried, refusing to believe that this was it. He could not accept it. This was NOT how all this was going to end. "Yur not gonna die! Yur not gonna be loike th' others!"

"No," Touya whispered. He opened his eyes and lifted his pale gaze to lock on Jin. The chilling look was enough to make Jin clench his hands and tense up. "No I'm not. I'm too strong, you're right. The stronger demons might not go into a coma."

"Good! Then we kin find a way t'-,"

"No. You're not listening. I won't go into a coma," Touya said softly. His gaze pierced Jin. "I'll become part of the nightmare. I'll kill and attack others. I'll spread the disease and I'm too strong to just die, Jin." He stared up at his partner. "This is what Karasu meant. He wanted me to infect you too. He wants us both to spread this disease. He's the one who's doing this! He has to be!"

Jin shook his head. A painful knot had being drawing tighter and tighter in the back of his throat and it threatened to choke his words. His hands were shaking as bad if not worse than Touya's.

Touya forced himself up, standing painfully to his feet. His slender frame swayed like paper marionette a in the breeze, weak enough to snap at any moment. Jin felt sick to his stomach seeing his friend that vulnerable.

"We can't let him win. We have to stop it here," Touya whispered. "You have to get to Yuusuke's Realm and tell him about this. He has the connections to get something done."

"A-aye. I kin do tha'," Jin rasped, voice weak.

Touya stepped back from his friend, a sad light in his eyes that made Jin's skin crawl. He gestured to Minna and the girl dashed to Jin's side, waiting. She looked sad too. The ice demon looked at Jin with a more familiar, cold look of detachment. He dropped his hands to his sides and spread his arms slightly. Jin felt that familiar thrust of terror that ripped through his chest.

"You have to kill me," Touya said. His face was so cold, so damn familiar that Jin could not deny that it was really Touya, not the disease speaking. He was thinking clearly and Jin hated him for it. "You have to. I'm too strong. I'll infect hundreds. I won't let that happen. Kill me."

"N-no!" he gasped, then stronger. "NO! I can't be doin' tha' to yu! No! I can't do it!" Jin shouted, clenching hands in his hair and doubling over. He fell into a crouch, knees drawn up around his head, fists tight against his head. This did not compute. Clockwork, undeniable logic refuted this picture.

The sun rises and falls, gravity means down, Touya does not cough so hard he falls to his knees, two plus two is four, five comes after four, Touya did NOT give Jin the look that a dying fighter does, spring comes after winter, the earth revolves around the sun, _Touya doesn't ask his best friend to _kill_ him_!

"No," he whispered. The pain wouldn't allow him to do it. He could not, even if he tried, throw one of his new, deadly techniques at Touya with the intent to kill. He'd done what few demons dared and made a friend, a real comrade who knew him through and through, who'd stick by him until the bitter end and trusted in him with his life. For a youkai, that was down right crazy. Jin liked being crazy. It was a good life and he refused to let it end like this.

"I can't Touya. Honest t' th' fate o' heaven an' hell I can't," Jin rasped, face still turned to the ground. "I'm nowt strong enough. I can't kill yu without kill mehself! Please dun ask meh to."

He buried his face in his hands and fought not to lose all sense of mind to the tumult of emotions running rampant through him. Too long to remember he'd been Touya's comrade. Training with the shinobi, going to the Dark Tournament, leaving their lives as assassin of the shadows, attending the Makai Tournament, plunging through the wild life of in the Makai as partners, meeting Shizuru and starting this whole nightmare. Touya knew everything about him down to his eating habits and fighting technique while Jin had more of Touya in his palm than any other living creature could claim to know. They worked as one, they thought together, they'd were closer than family. How could Touya ask him to? It would be like killing part of himself.

He couldn't do it.

"I won't," Touya whispered. Minna whimpered and tugged on Jin's arm, pleading to be picked up. The demon obliged, scooping her into his arms and turning to his friend. His eyes betrayed his fears and pain. Touya, kicking all his morals in a closet and smiled a genuine smirk of encouragement at his startled partner. "Just promise me you'll get to Yuusuke."

He couldn't speak. He just nodded.

"Good...Because we're not alone," Touya murmured. The trees suddenly shuddered violently to the left. Touya spun, electric blue eyes locking on the movement. Instantly his right arm was coated in a razor sharp blade of ice, his left hand filled with a brilliant green orb of energy. Suddenly the giant ash tree to the left exploded. No. It didn't JUST explode it was incinerated on the spot. Touya's eyes widened.

_-There wasn't even an energy flare. He didn't even have to try! That was nothing!-_

The horrifying realization was enough to make Touya's stomach clench and his entire body to break out in a sweat. The highly sensitive ice demon felt the familiar presence, the dark shadow aura hovering just beyond the cover of the trees. Both shinobi started as hundreds of crows erupted from the canopy to spiral into the dark sky, shrieking and screaming. They swarmed overhead, circling, waiting for death to begin.

Jin had leapt back into the air and was preparing to start his Tornado Fist technique but Touya cut him off.

"No! Jin! GO! Get to the Third Realm! Warn them!"

"What!?"

"You have to tell them!!"

"NO! I won't be leavin yu!"

Touya's eyes flashed angrily. "You're the fastest flyer alive. They need to know or everything we've worked for will come down around us! I can't go with you! I'm infected! You have to warn them. You have to get word to _her_! Make sure she doesn't come here!"

Jin was torn. Touya's fighting abilities were incredible but he was still considered in training; most powerful ice demon alive or not, he still had not reached his full potential. Besides that he was sick, weak and mot as logical as he could be. He whole battle style rested upon his clear thinking and the sickness clouded his thoughts. Jin knew Touya was right. Logically he knew this was a best thing to do. However, the Wind Master's conscience was screaming.

This thing, this opponent watching from the trees was just waiting for it. Jin knew Touya would die fighting for his life and maybe his sanity. Jin felt he would puke. He just couldn't make himself abandon Touya alone with that thing. Frustrated and anxious Jin shook his head fiercely and threw out an arm.

"He's waiting fer it, Touya! He be wantin' meh t' leave yu alone!!" he shouted, pleading with his friend's logical side. "He'll kill yu! Touya you can't-,"

"JIN!!"

The Wind Master shuttup. Touya watched him silently, twin blue eyes locked on his friend. Another explosion took out several trees this time. A boulder the size of a small house turned to dust a hundred feet away. Child's play. Something flickered in his gaze, a silent command and a promise.

"Go."

Jin wavered, screaming inside, he knew he didn't have time to waste here. He couldn't take Touya. He had to warn Yuusuke. He had to stop Shizuru. He had to go. He knew he should go, but he couldn't just...he couldn't ... it wasn't right.

"Go. Please."

The wind demon gave a painful yell and wheeled around to shoot away toward the Third Realm. The agonized expression on his face made Touya hurt for his comrade. He knew that Jin would blame himself for this. There was nothing he could have done, but the wind elf would surely tear into his own spirit to punish himself for letting Touya face Karasu alone. No. Touya had already accepted this was the only way. Jin needed to get there as fast as possible and he couldn't possibly save him too. He'd infect the red-head or kill him at worst. Touya wouldn't allow that to happen.

No. This was the way it had to be.

"How courageous. Letting your ally run away and staying all by yourself to play. Oh, want bravado," applauded a velvety dark voice from the forest around him. Touya crouched low, body coiled, tensed for the attack he knew was coming. His senses were set to their max, attuned to the spirit world like no other demon but an S-class could accomplish. His fighting techniques might not be up to par, but his spirit awareness was incredible. That's why he'd been sent after all.

"I'd heard the rumors but didn't believe until I saw it for myself," Touya remarked evenly, blue eyes sweeping the clearing around him. "You're still as twisted as you were a century ago. Pathetic who some demons never change. But enough of that. What have you been doing all the way out here in the slums? Binding your time?"

Touya hissed sharply as something zipped past his left cheek, slitting his skin open and causing crimson blood to well up. There was a faint trickle of amused laughter from the trees. He knew it hadn't been anything more than a projectile, but still, a casual threat.

"So many questions. So cool and collected. You remind me of someone I'd like to kill, Ice Master."

"So pleased you think so..." Touya began breathlessly. His world spun. The energy required to form his ice blade had caught up with him. Destabilized and shaky, Touya fell to his knees, clutching his head and gasping for air. The action caused his throat to burn and he coughed hard, knowing Karasu enjoyed every moment of his weakness.

"Nasty cough you have there," remarked the crow lightly, laughter in his voice. "I dare say you picked up some type of virus? Would you like me to make it all go away?"

Touya forced down his coughing and clapped a hand over his mouth, shuddering. There was a screech of throaty cawing in his ears, the broken shrieks of black birds and a horrible groaning moan of 'Nevermore'. He bit back a cry pf pain, swaying dangerously on his knees as the screaming voices of winged birds filled his head. The sound ripped through his head like broken glass. He clutched his head in agony and fell hard on his side. Karasu's distorted, laughter swirled through the muggy tangle of thoughts and visions in his head.

Through his pain, Touya struggled to lever himself up on one elbow, refusing to recall his ice blade, still encasing his arm. A wave of hot pain swept through him. The Ice Master gasped collapsing on his back and moaning in torment. His body shivered violently, sweat beading on his brow as he struggled not to forget his purpose.

_-Kill Karasu and die trying.-_

The canopy transformed before his eyes. The red of the Blood Oaks giave way to thousands of dark feathers and glittering lavender eyes. The boughs of the trees filled as ravens plunged through the leaves to perch upon the branches, all staring down into his own gaze. The creatures, all scraggly, thin and ominous the creatures hovered over him, filling his mind like they did the canopy. He couldn't stop himself as ragged words slipped from his tongue, unfamiliar, undeniable words. He couldn't stop them.

He had to keep his objective.

"Prophet," Touya breathed, voice soft, almost inaudible. "Thing of evil – prophet still if bird or devil! Whether Tempter sent-" He gasped and writhed in pain. "Or whether tempest...tossed thee here ashore-,"

-_Kill Karasu. Die trying.-_

The ice demon screamed raggedly and rolled onto his stomach, gasping the next line of the damning requiem. "Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land...enchanted. On this home by...Horror haunted – tell me truly, I implore." He shuddered as a spasm of pain racked his body, cold and burning heat searing him. His voice was coarse but he still spoke the next verse.

"Is there balm in Gilead? – tell me – tell me, I implore."

_-Kill Karasu...Die trying.- _

"Quoth...the...Raven-,"

Touya coughed hard, curling into a painful curl as all the thousands of spectral avian watchers rasped their line. Speaking as one, horrible voice that tore into Touya's sanity. "Nevermore."

Touya, lying drained of all resistance, shivering and helpless proved far too tempting for Karasu to pass up. Despite his twisted amusement in the ice demon's torment, his urge to do some kind of damage to the ice apparition was too great. Touya's spirit sense told him precisely when the demon lunged at him from the canopy, shadow falling over him like a giant bird of prey. The shinobi instantly forced his mind and body to react as one and flipped onto his back. Suddenly he was face to face with a set of brilliant lavender eyes.

Clawed hands slammed into the ground on either side of Touya's head. An expansive black jacket blocked out the cloudy sunlight and Touya bit back a shout, suddenly trapped underneath his attacker, diminutive body over shadowed by the dark raven hued figure.

Touya's breath came hard, fast, but his attacker didn't move. Insane violet eyes locked on Touya's for a horrifying moment, piercing the younger demon like a dagger. Then, lazily, his gaze traveled down to his own midriff where Touya's right arm had thrust his ice blade straight through his belly. Slowly rivulets of dark blood seeped down the edges of the ice, dribbling down. The violet eyes swept back up to Touya's icy expression.

"Well done little Ice Master. You've managed to prick me. Now..."

He leaned forward, bringing his masked face inches from the startled ninja's, sliding his body closer and furthering impaling himself on the frigid blade, the abrasion of ribs, muscle and sinew causing sickening friction against the sword. Touya was paralyzed as his attacker leered into his face, claws scraping the dirt on either side of his head to mere gravel. He slowly brought one clawed hand around to touch the bloody flower blooming across his dark jacket and lifted the scarlet covered hand.

Touya watching eyes wide in horrified fascination as the blood burned on the tips of his talon-like nails. The demon smiled evilly, long raven hued tresses falling about his face to frame gleaming amethyst eyes. He lowered the bloody hand slowly to come to rest against Touya's lips, gingerly hushing the ice demon's sudden gasp. The beautiful, horrible quest demon smiled sadistically into his victim's stunned azure eyes.

"Once you've stabbed me...just what were you planning to do?" Karasu inquired.

Touya, oddly enough, found the answer simple. He was infected, he couldn't kill Karasu. There was only one thing left to do.

"Die," he murmured.

He quickly summoned a blade of ice to his free hand, but instead of turning it on Karasu, the ice demon flipped it around and plunged the icy dagger at his own chest. Touya never saw exactly how he did it but somehow Karasu's long, powerful fingers were wrapped around his own, gripping his hand over the blade and stopping it short just a breath over the ninja's heart. Touya's defiant azure eyed burned into Karasu's and he struggled fiercely to finish the blade's path through his torso. Karasu only continued to smile insanely down at him; his hand over Touya's was firm but gentle like that of a parent restraining a child.

He shook his head, midnight dark tresses slipping down to frame his pale face as Touya writhed and struggled beneath him. His other arm was still covered in ice and rammed deep into Karasu's belly, trapping it. Karasu was holding his other hand and the quest demon had slipped his free hand out to gently wipe the blood from Touya's pale cheek. The ice demon gave a breathy cry of frustration as he failed to free his hand from Karasu's. Fear, lodged deep in his soul as the screaming of ravens filled his mind. All his other thoughts were slipping away from him like sand through his fingers.

Touya screamed, but it was muffled by Karasu as the demon covered the smaller youkai's mouth with a gentle hand. The ice demon cried out in pain as the deafening cawing, shrieking of the demonic birds scraped away at his sanity. Touya thrashed, bucking and twisting in vain attempts to free himself from Karasu's warped hold of protection. Karasu shushed the agonized youkai as he gasped raggedly, struggles growing weaker.

"Shh," he hissed comfortingly as Touya gave a subdued scream of despair, stifled by the palm of his hand. The ebon-haired youkai smiled benevolently as Touya's ethereal azure eyes widened pleadingly, a moan of denial slipping through his fingers.

"Don't worry. "Karasu forcefully dragged the infected youkai's arm up and pinned it over his head. "It'll all be over soon. Relax. The ravens are like nepenthe. The pain will fade, just hush, Touya."

The ice demon gave a moan of torment as Karasu spoke. His fingers tightened on the ice dagger, clenching the weapon like a lifeline for a full three minutes. The violet-eyed quest demon just waited. His hand over Touya was gentle, seeking to calm the ice demon. His thumb stroked the shinobi's curled fingers, gingerly beguiling them to release the dagger. He needed to stop focusing on living and accept his new fate. Pain would only focus Touya's thoughts so he held off...at least for now. He needed the ice demon to relax and let the disease seep in.

Touya whimpered as Karasu finally loosed his death grip on the blade and cast it aside. There. Now that all distractions were gone he could concentrate on dying. The dark-haired quest demon quickly entwined his fingers through Touya's, pressing his palm into Touya's freezing hand. The ice demon instantly tried to pull his hand free but failed, fingers trapped in Karasu's deadly hold. He screamed again, thrashing in mental agony.

"Shh. Relax. Just go to sleep and make it easy on yourself," Karasu advised softly. Touya stared up at him, eyes growing darker. He clenched them shut and tried to force his mind away. Karasu only smiled. "That's right. Close your eyes and sleep. Maybe you'll dream of living. Just relax."

Serenity now...

**$%$%$%$%$%$**

_** Insanity later...**_

**$%$%$%$%$%$**

**Author's Note: **Hmm...don't really have much to say. I may have written too much in the Jin and Touya section but it was important...tell me if there was anything I could have cut out. Sometimes I tend to ramble. However, I think I'll be focusing more on Cloud Shizuru and Alaster now. Read review. Tell me what to improve.


	6. Not So Delicate Primrose

**Disclaimer:** Okay. I think I might have gotten a hit of _Calvin and Hobbes_ in here somewhere and I used a couple anime series like _Cowboy Bebop_ and _Trigun_. Otherwise, you have already heard my ranting. Be gone!

**Story Thus Far: **Shizuru, Alaster and Cloud are departing from the city in search of Touya and Jin. However, Jin (along with the toddler Minna) have fled to warn Yuusuke leaving Touya to fight Karasu alone. Beyond that Koenma is a prisoner of his own status while his father plots...something?

Enjoy chapter 6!

**Not So Delicate Primrose**

****

"Whaddyu mean 'sick'?" Yuusuke demanded, brow creasing in mild confusion.

He folded his long, powerful arms across his chest, the dark tattoos etched across his flesh dark against smooth skin. His jet black tresses which had once grown down his back in spiky waves had been hacked short and forcibly tamed with a strip of green cloth tied in a band about his head, stray spikes jutted rebelliously up from his skull in a testament to his personality. Dark eyes that constantly waged a war between a soft coffee and a violent blood red roiled as the Lord of the Third Realm let his mouth pull in a slight glower.

Dressed only in casual jeans, torn and frayed at the knee, sneakers and a ragged green T-shirt no one would have thought this young man to be the deadly War Lord he was or a powerful ruler over a Realm in the Makai. No. Any passerby would have called him a delinquent or punk or something along those lines. He certainly looked the part. Cocky smile, sardonic quirk to the eyebrows, slump of the shoulders and battle scarred hands. His body was that of a twenty one year old, young, athletic, slightly stocky, but it was something about his stature that threw you for a loop. Something about the strange power that radiated from his youthful frame.

But being a Toushin often had that kind of affect on one's aura.

"What are the symptoms?" he wanted to know of his most trusted General.

The demon shrugged thin, but sleekly muscled shoulders, jet black skin rippling over sinuous arms. His reptilian yellow eyes blinked emotionlessly up from his angular, ebon face as he finished his field report. He'd flown over eighty miles on his powerful black wings to inform his Emperor of the most unusual developments among his men. He was about Yuusuke's height, though the Lord could never be certain because he tended to slouch. He went by Veil; nothing else and that suited Yuusuke just fine. The General belonged to a sub-class of dragon demon, exotic, massively rare and powerful to boot.

The draconic youkai scratched the back of his slender neck, running supple fingers through his fire-orange licks of flaming hair. His dark red tunic jangled and clinked, millions of razor sharp metal barbs all glittering from his thick leather belt as he moved. They didn't look too dangerous but in Veil's hands...they were lethal. Yuusuke had been on the receiving end of his friend's devastating attacks before and rather preferred having the draconic demon under his command instead of standing against him.

Veil sighed, voice a soft, reverberating echo, like the low purr of some great beast coiled within his narrow chest.

"My _Lord_, the troops along Mukuro's – ahh, excuse me – _Kumuro's_ borders have reported hostility toward their sentries, my Lord. I think we might worry more about possible invasion than a few bouts of illness in the ranks," Veil said testily.

He'd lost several troops of men to aggressive border guards hailing from the dead Emperor's territory. It had put the demon in a foul mood and flying a considerable distance to deliver a rather the message hadn't done anything to heal his frame of mind. It was obvious to Yuusuke that the ebon-skinned youkai would much rather be attacking the former Mukuro's guilty border patrols instead of discussing things here with him.

"Hey, Veil. Chill man, we're gonna nail these guys, but I need to check with Yomi," said Yuusuke, placing a hand on his comrade's tense shoulder. "He reported sickness in his troops, too much. He's had to quarantine two garrisons and put down several of his strongest Captains because they went berserk. I don't want any of our men to end up like that."

Veil drew a steady breathe and nodded in agreement. Yuusuke inclined his head in gratitude and stepped back from his friend.

"Okay. So what kind of sickness are we talking here?"

"Hmm...It's a strange one. It starts out like any common cold, fever, chills, aching and such. Then the victims becomes...erratic...starts hallucinating and ranting about strange names and people," the dark skinned demon replied to Yuusuke query. "The weaker demons fall into a deep coma while others begin to attack one another."

Yuusuke bit his lip, face falling in a sober expression. "Same symptoms Yomi reported. This is getting too weird," the Toushin said, brow furrowing deeper. "And all this right after your men started having those weird skirmishes with Mukuro's troops."

"Kumuro, my Lord," Veil corrected gently. "Kumuro now rules Mukuro's throne."

Yuusuke winced; irked that he'd forgotten the death of the powerful woman even after all these years. She'd become something of an older sister after he'd taken over the Third Realm and under her tutoring he'd become far more adept a ruler than he'd ever thought himself capable of. Her brutal murder, even now had not settled with him and neither had the disappearance of the illustrious Hiei Jaganshi. The prime suspect to everyone but those who knew him.

Hiei respected Mukuro. He'd been more loyal to the disfigured, yet beautiful female Emperor than he'd ever been to Yuusuke or even Kurama. He'd never turn his blade on her. Not unless she asked it of him and she'd never leave Hiei under such a damning circumstances. The woman had valued Hiei like a brother if not a mate. Course, neither of them had ever indicated they were anything more than Emperor and heir, but rumor so did love to mutter otherwise.

"Yeah...right and stop calling me Lord," the Toushin said absently. "Look, I just think it's way to coincidental. You think he's going for biological war?" Yuusuke speculated while strolling thoughtfully along the wide balcony over looking the exotic expanses of the Makai forest. The trill of wild birds echoed up from the canopies like some mournful wail of a mother to her lost child. Yuusuke, however was deaf to it in his thoughts.

Veil frowned. "With both you and Yomi? Not very wise. He's hardly half the ruler Mukuro was."

"I know, but he's an ambitious little prick and I ain't gonna sit around and wait for him to slide a dirty dagger between my ribs while I wonder," he chuckled bitterly. "I'm sending someone in there to take a look around for any suspicious activity."

"Like what?" Veil asked vaguely intrigued. It was pretty plain in his body language he wanted to be that 'someone'.

"I dunno weird things...suspicious things," Yuusuke replied, equally vague.

Veil's handsome face became annoyed and sardonic. "You really have an eye for detail, you know that, Yuusuke?"

The dark-haired Emperor laughed, sweatdropping as he slumped against the stone hand rails along the walkway. Veil was, of course, right but he didn't really want to get into a debate with him about it today. The dragon demon had a tongue on him like no other and more often than not Yuusuke was struck with nothing left to say while Veil walked away with the bickering championship.

"Okay, fine. Define 'strange and suspicious," Yuusuke huffed.

Veil's dragon gold eyes lifted, amused and he thoughtfully began to cast his mind about for thoughts, gaze scanning the stormy skies idly. Then his face contorted in a most random look of confusion, brow furrowing, lips twisting so the demon managed a most peculiar expression. Yuusuke, somewhat troubled by his friend's..._odd_ reaction, arched a brow at him. Veil only glanced back at him and pointed an elegantly clawed hand into the sky.

"That."

Yuusuke turned to look. "What he hell...?"

Zooming top speed out of the skies overhead was some kind of strange zig-zagging creature, flashing and darting back and forth across the scarlet clouded heavens. Yuusuke's head followed the spastic flight path of the wayward creature, face swinging back and forth in rhythm to the dark figure's movements across the atmosphere. Veil's head did not sway like Yuusuke's but his narrowed eyes followed the air-born speck as it grew larger, drawing closer and closer across the skies.

"Umm, should we be defending?" Veil asked slowly.

Yuusuke's head had begun to bob and weave from left to right, up and down as if hypnotized by the wild movements. "Uh...not really. It looks like this guy's gonna...oh shit!"

Yuusuke spun and tackled a startled Veil just as an explosion of pink and blue ripped through the air they'd just vacated. The two men went tumbling to the ground in a rolling tangle and ended up slammed up against a nearby stone column. Veil blinked from his position belly down on the stone, Yuusuke sitting in the middle of his narrow back. The speeding...whatever it was...was gone leaving the two to stare dumbfounded at the empty air.

"Gods...I didn't realize how fast that thing was going!" the warrior swore under his breath.

"Yeah, she tends to have that affect on people..." muttered the Toushin, rolling off his General.

Veil stared. "Beg pardon?"

"Her. She. Ferrygirl with a speed fetish," Yuusuke snapped massaging his shoulder which had smacked the wall with numbing force. He glanced down at Veil who ogled up at him. "Oh...yeah that's right you haven't met her yet." The former Spirit Detective cleared his throat and swung around the stone pillar. "Oi! Botan!! What the hell are you doing here?! You finally nag Koenma into letting go on a vacation?"

However instead of receiving a heated reprimand or a screech of 'you inconsiderate jerk' Yuusuke found himself roughly tackled to the floor in a flurry of pink kimono and blue hair.

"Yuusuke!! I'm so glad to see you!" Botan wailed loudly. "I didn't think I was going to make it! THANK THE FATES!!"

Botan quickly dissolved into mad tears of hysteria, clinging to Yuusuke's chest. Veil's left eyebrow was slowly tracking high into his hair as he watched the drama unfold. The raven-haired Toushin shot his subordinate a glowering warning look as if to say: 'not a word, dragon-boy'.

"Should I...go get Keiko?" Veil asked, a thin smile pulling at his lips.

Yuusuke glanced down at the blubbering ferry-girl and groaned. "You'd better. I don't speak weepy girl language."

"Right away, sire."

"Don't call me that..."

* * *

"Cloud...if you kick one more rock down on my head I swear I will crawl up there and castrate you."

"Bite me, Shizuru."

_**Whap! Smack!**_

"Ow! Those hit _me_!"

"Sorry, Alaster," chorused Cloud and Shizuru; not even glancing at the abused fox-demon betwixt them.

The silver-haired youkai rubbed his head mournfully reflecting that this mountain was at least another two hours' climb in this fog. Not that he minded the workout, it was actually quite refreshing, but the social interaction between his sworn sister and their new team mate was less than pleasant. Prevented from faster travel due to avalanche threat and opaque fogs, the trio was forced to move at mortal speed, tediously hiking the mountain's rocky trails and enduring the presence of each other in silence for far too long.

Only an hour into the journey, Cloud had carelessly knocked a shelf of earth from its ledge and sent it raining on Shizuru's head. Positive that he'd done it on purpose the young woman had started up a verbal flurry of insults and stinging jibes that seemed to only stoke the slow-burning fires that smoldered beneath the dark angel's seemingly calm exterior. The blond had responded in turn by continuing his climb using...less than the usual amount of grace gifted to a shadowkai.

Needless to say, both Shizuru and Alaster were interesting shades of purple and blue.

However, though Cloud enjoyed the sound of his captors' suffering, he was the one who had to deal with the small, annoying groups of squatter demons that clustered in cold mountain snows such as these. He'd been attacked twelve times already. Never, hurt of course, but squatters were decently powered youkai, certainly worth destroying with a sizable energy blast.

"DIIIIIIE!!" squealed a 'threatening' falsetto as several gaggles of furry, fang bearing monsters leapt out to sink pearly teeth into the sweet looking morsel that Cloud presented himself as.

Grumbling, Cloud casually flicked his wrist, energy coiling in the slender tendons and snapping through the air as his hand reached the zenith of its motion. The dark wave of power surged through the empty space and all twenty of them vaporized on the spot, popping out of existence and leaving only oily smoke in their wake. The shadowkai sniffed the air, wrinkling his nose slightly at the stench of sulfur, charred meat and fur. He knew he'd reek of squatter hair for days to come and coughed slightly in agitation.

"The fog is lifting," he called back to his two 'companions'. "I think we can get down the mountain by dusk and be at the rendezvous by nightfall. But only if we hurry. I don't want to be dodging mountain skeet demons all night."

"Well, if skeets worry you so much I guess we'll just have to hurry won't we?" laughed the familiar drawling, purr. Shizuru hadn't quite forgiven him for kicking that rock on her skull and he doubted she would. Cloud shook his head angrily and boosted himself over the next rise with relative ease, swinging long legs over the edge and staring out over the opposite side of the mountain.

The tangled, battle of branches and brambles boiled across the landscape, leering back at him from their dark mêlée for domination of the forest. His dark garnet eyes took in the twisting foliage with mild, unflinching calm.

The Dame Yume Forest.

"Our contacts are out there somewhere," a voice said informatively.

Cloud glanced at the speaker to find Alaster standing beside him, sucking away at yet another flavor of sucker. The half-demon had a strange affection for hard candies that he could not fathom, but then against Alaster struck him as someone who probably cared less what people thought of him. The silver-haired demon glanced at him, wine-hued eyes somewhat apprehensive to the disposition of the dangerous shadowkai.

The dark angel nodded and began a lazy descent toward the looming tree-line. He wasn't exactly thrilled to be meeting up with anyone or anything else that might be associated with Shizuru, demon-hunters, Karasu, revenge or, or...to hell with it! He just did not want to end up surrounded by more fanatical Cloud-haters nor did he wish to go further into the depths of Makai. They had already descended two levels and Cloud's instincts already flirted with outright paranoia. He wondered if Shizuru would be watching to see if he squirmed.

The pale-haired demon swung his garnet gaze around to sneak a glance at his human captor. Sure enough she was drilling holes between his shoulder blades with that stare of hers; like she could cause him to spontaneously combust if she glared hard enough. Yeah, friendly; pleasant in fact. Cloud quickened his step down the trail, eager to get out of the mountainous fog and into the familiar shadows of the forest. Ahh, but there it was again. Shadows. And him taking comfort in them. Damn...

"Hey! Blondie. Hold up, no need to rush into the forest so quick," came the inevitable shout, sending small prickles of annoyance like ants down his spine. Shizuru was suddenly right along side him, ditching poor Alaster in the dust and smiling too-warmly at him. Cloud bared delicately tapered fangs in what idiots could translate as a smile and tipped his head as if regarding the air three inches from his head and not the young woman beside him.

"Rushing? No, _never_ my delicate primrose. Only scouting ahead. Wouldn't want to be ambushed by psychopathic demons with a detonation fetish," he said sweetly.

There was really no reply to something like that and Shizuru fell abnormally silent if only for an instant. Cloud savored the breath but a moment. The complimentary nickname had thrown her off for a moment. The shadowkai was obscurely pleased by this, hadn't he suffered the title 'blondie' enough to justify calling her 'primrose.' The human regained her tongue and her wits and smirked, bitterness on her lips as she did so. She laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, hand falling easily across his thin frame as she smiled.

"Certainly not. If Karasu were to blast us that would set us back quite a bit, wouldn't it?" she agreed. "That's why you get to go first, Cloudy-baby. That way only the one that deserves it gets his."

By then the girl had her arm around his shoulder, hugging him in a comradely fashion while leaning against his shoulder. The shadowkai twitched imperceptibly and shot her a sideways smile. She beamed right back, eyes daring him to keep talking. If this had been the animal kingdom and not a battle of intelligent banter he suspected she would have gone for his jugular by now.

"Well, I think it's you he'll be interested in blasting outright. After all you and fox-boy are the ones chasing him now aren't you?" said Cloud, not so much as registering the arm about his shoulders, at least not visibly.

Her smile was a snarl now. "As long as I know he has to go through you first I'll die happy," she told him.

"Rest in Pieces, bitch."

"That's so sweet, blondie. But so will you, so my eternal happiness is assured. You get to rot in hell, freak-show."

The two verbal combatants, anger fueling their feet to move faster, had already broken through the tree line. They saw nothing of the surrounding forest, absorbed totally in each other and their poisonous words. Alaster was lost back in the trees and mountainous outcropping as they stormed through the foliage, anger peaking to the physical point. Already an aura of flickering shadows had gathered about Cloud's shoulders and beads of light shimmered at Shizuru's fingertips. The leaves of the underbrush waved, swaying as they passed, energy sending a ripple through the air around them.

Cloud's eyes glittered as he smirked at the girl. "So letting Karasu get away with the stuff he's done is fine with you as long as I get offed?" He snickered and tossed his head as he moved past her and began to climb over the arching root of a Blood Oak. "I think you gotta get your priorities straight, little girl. Which act of revenge is more important: me or him?"

"Karasu, but watching him tank your sweet ass." Here Shizuru took advantage of Cloud's leading position and slapped him across the backside. Cloud spun around so fast Shizuru was reminded more of a startled cat than anything. The look of pure poison he shot her could have disintegrated Togoro. She smirked flirtatiously at winked, finishing her former sentence. "Will be more than worth it."

"You...bitch!" he hissed as if no words in all human languages could possibly express just _what_ she was. He leapt back off the root and advanced on her so fast Shizuru stutter-stepped back into a tree, Cloud's ruby eyes inches from her own. Though he wasn't much taller than her, he seemed to absolutely tower over the female demon hunter. Maybe it was the haloing shadows outlining his entire body. The sheer power of his spirit signature disguised his thin body until all you could see was the massive aura of darkness around him. She was pinned by glowing red eyes, too shell shocked to call upon her own aura.

"Don't you ever touch me!" he spat, voice quiet but scathing. "And if you think this is a game then get your head on straight. Karasu was child's play a century ago, nothing. You think he's still that same? That his power hasn't grown? Think again, little girl! Reality check! He's strong enough to take on any one of the former Reikai Tantei and you, child, aren't one of them!"

His fist slammed into the tree trunk by her head. Shizuru stiffened, but to her credit she didn't look afraid. Her eyes shown a dangerous ocher light in the shifting shadows of the Dame Yume trees. Right then she looked anything but scared.

She looked downright pissed.

"Child? That's what I am?" she chuckled. Cloud's aura remained intact, darkening the air around him, glittering over pale skin and slithering through the folds of his dark trench coat. She grinned up at him. "So I can't take Karasu on you say? I don't know how is that it? I've only trained my whole life and use the power _you_ gave me to fall short? And you know how to fight him, right? 'Cause I'm too inexperienced, too emotionally clouded to handle Karasu."

Cloud's eyes narrowed. "Stole the words from my mouth," he said.

Shizuru smirked that crazy, impulsive grin. "That's not all I'll steal."

Too fast for even demon eyes to follow her hands flashed up and grabbed Cloud behind the neck, fingers tangling through soft blond hair and yanking the startled demon to her; closing the inches between their faces and closing her mouth over his. The shadowkai made a ridiculous gasping sound against her mouth and his aura shattered, blinking away into nothing and leaving him vulnerable to attack. Shizuru couldn't help but grin inwardly as she crossed her right boot behind his and spun him around, slamming the shell-shocked Cloud against the tree.

For an instant his hands flashed up toward her throat, fingers rigid for a lethal strike, but she pressed hard against him and snapped her hand down into his jacket and laid her hand along the gun at his thigh. She knew he could had struck the vital point in her neck, but his hands halted and inch from her skin, so close to their goal they trembled to finish the job. Cloud couldn't hurt her though. He wanted to, but he couldn't.

He still owed her.

Instead of striking the killer blow, the dark angel planted his hand against her shoulders and shoved her away from him, cursing in his own language as she leapt back, laughing. Cloud spat on the ground, letting his disgust be known he pushed away from the trunk and vanished with a sudden burst of speed. A flicker of after image was all that remained before empty air.

Shizuru smiled. Chalk one up for the delicate primrose.

There was a rustle of motion and Alaster sleek form vaulted over a rise in the ground not far off. There was a scowl on his face as he regarded his comrade. But before he could think of anything to say he notice the distinct lack of tall, dark and scary in the atmosphere and glanced about.

"Where's Cloud?" he inquired.

Shizuru grinned. "Licking his wounds somewhere. No matter. We're here. Now we wait for Jin and Touya."

Too busy gloating over her psychological victory over Cloud, the young woman didn't sense anything strange. Too annoyed with the controversy among their number, Alaster didn't even hear anything nor smell any strange odor. If he'd been more alert he might have scented the smell of frost on the air. As it was, neither of them suspected a thing until a familiar voice spoke from behind them.

"Hey guys..." There was a glitter of lucid, blue eyes. "What's up?" Touya said.

* * *

Down in the city of Cambridge the night air was balmy and cool, damp with the constant fall of rain. Winter was slowly creeping up upon the November weather, sneakily stealing the daylight and heat from the sunshine hours. Soon December would stop playing nice and drop kick fall into next year. The snows of American Christmas were already heavy in the mountains and several snowboarding trips had been arranged by thrill-seeking Harvard students and high schoolers from the nearby non-college schools.

Mika Urameshi was one of them. She could not go one letting her beautiful Soloman 36 gather dust in the corner of her room. Either she would be shedding a mountain side by the end of the month or she'd be shredding her guardian's next English essay in the smoothie maker. Hopefully she would not have to resort to outright violence. Perhaps sweet talking with a hint of trickery would pull it off.

Like a coiled cat she waited, poised for the attack on the living room sofa she sat, clutching her chosen weapons. Bright mocha eyes trained upon the doorway. She waited. Yes. Her next move was plotted perfectly. She knew precisely how to take down her wily opponent. She would pull this off. She would do the impossible. She was going on the damn snowboarding trip. Ahh, yes. Her sharp senses had already picked up the sound of his near-silent approach. He would be coming through the door any moment she waited.

The click of the key in the lock echoed through the apartment. Mika tensed, ready, this was it. The door swung open.

"I have papers for you to sign," the brunette shouted over the commotion of the television. She waved at large wad of papers positioned on top of her shoulder bag on the table. The front door swung closed and the sound of a backpack being dropped reached her ears.

"What are they?" came the mild, mandatory inquiry.

"The usual. Detention slips, tardies, parent teacher conferences and an admission for the art contest at the new art and city center," she drawled loudly. On the screen she laughed hysterically as Spike Spiegel attempted to filch a hotdog from a hot Hispanic woman, stuffing the entire thing in his mouth. She heard the amused 'hmm' from her roommate as he rifled through her detention slips.

"Who did you punch this time?"

"Larry Moffet. He slapped my ass and tried to make a pass at my friend," she supplemented, casually munching on the contents of an Oreo bag. "Where were you? You're late."

"Tutoring."

"Liar. It was your fan-club wasn't it?" laughed the sixteen year old. "Was it that one queer from the modeling agency? Wait! No! It was those skitzos from the art club. They make you sit for them a couple hours? Hell! Just think of all the portfolios with foxy red-heads in them. I'll bet their employers get scared and fires them."

There was a sigh and the said red-head moved into the next room, presumably to find a pen. "Jus because they ask me to sit for their portraits does not mean they like me. I may just be the most inspiring thing they can find."

Mika rolled her eyes. "Oh, inspirational _and_ modest. How _do-o_ you do it?"

"Couple thousand years of practice." There was pause from the other room and a sudden inquiry. "What's this?"

_Damn. He spotted the snowboarding application,_ thought Mika furiously. She'd been hoping the red-head would take her word for it and just sign on the dotted lines, but then again fooling Yoko Kurama with a simple distraction and misdirection hadn't been the best plan she'd ever concocted. She pouted as the slender figure of her legal guardian stepped accusingly into the foyer, holding the guilty looking snowboarding flyer.

The flickering light from the gunfight on the plasma screen cast a blue tint across the angular, features of her annoyingly good-looking roommate; hiding the perfect alabaster cream of his skin and sending stripes of shadowy black through his short scarlet hair. There was an explosion from the screen as the mobile spaceship _Swordfish_ sent a stream of bullets through the bad-guys' car. She smiled innocently, trying to meet those glittering green-gold eyes without flinching.

"I just wanted to go a little trip into the mountains," she said, making such and escapade sound harmless.

"Surely. And without me there to watch you," said Kurama pointedly though vaguely amused. "You can't be outside of my sensory range Mika. There's no telling when one of your father's enemies or my own might find you. I must be there to aid you."

The teenager let loose a self-suffering moan and flung herself across the back of the couch. "You're such a _stick_ in the mud! I can take care of myself and no one has been the wiser to us for six years. _Gosh_! What's the _matter_ with you? Some wild, roughish bandit _you_ turned out to be!"

Kurama smiled and walked across the floor to drop the pile of papers in her lap. Blinking Mika picked up the papers and looked at them.

"I'll ignore that grossly immature attitude for a moment and sign the admission anyway," said the fox-demon airily.

Mika squealed in an uncharacteristically girlish voice and tackled her guardian over the back of the sofa. The red-head, somewhat startled allowed himself to be attacked and crushed about the ribs. The girl hugged him hard and began some wild celebration/victory dance about the room, punching the air and cheering. Very much the daughter of Yuusuke Urameshi, thought Kurama, watching her leap upon the couch and continue with some kind of insane snowboard-boogie. The brunette hooted and leapt up and down wildly, hopping on the couch and bouncing all over the cushions.

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! You're the best! I love you!" screamed the girl excitedly. Kurama, having grown used to the behavior of teenaged girls, only nodded and smiled as she destroyed the springs in the furniture. Mika suddenly stopped screaming and tripped over the back of the couch. Hitting the floor hard, the red0head flinched, thinking her hurt and moved to help her up.

Instead the teen leapt up and glared up at him, suspicion in her eyes.

"What's the catch fox boy? My dad made you promised never to let me out of your sight. Why are you breaking that promise?" she demanded of the fishy situation.

The twenty-one year old who was actually closer to a thousand, smiled and dropped himself into the flattened sofa. Snatching a couple Oreos from the bag he grinned up at her.

"I'm just going to be...chaperoning if you will." He took a bite of his cookie, not dropping a crumb as he did so.

"WHAT! NO!" Mika shouted, launching herself over the back of the couch to shake her head wildly at him. "If you're there all the girls are gonna be drooling and crashing into trees over you and I won't get a moment's peace if anyone ever figures out you're my legal guardian! No! No way! You can't come!"

Kurama shrugged. "Fine." He nabbed the signed permission slip and tugged it from her fingers. "Then you won't be boarding with your friends."

Mika made a little choking sound.

The legendary King of Thieves smiled winningly. "Isn't better to be boarding with friends who crash into trees than not be boarding at all?" There was a dramatic crash as a bullet was fired and glass shattered on the television screen, after a couple moments of jazzy music and rolling credits the screen swapped off to a couple frozen images of Tokyo. Mika worked furiously to find something to say but two commercials later the beginning scenes for _Trigun_ began.

Wishing to resolve this in time for her show she went against her better judgment and gave in.

"Stupid fox!" she hissed and stole the Oreos from him.

* * *

Keiko Urameshi liked to walk. She took them often. It gave her time away from the hectic business of running a demon realm. One hundred years ago all of this death, fighting and demonic activity might have driven her mad. Now she accepted it with a grim determination and slow resilience. She could not be the lady of an Emperor without being at least mildly feared. Having sold her mortality, she had become a low level of quest demon, capable of creating things out of nothing.

Namely...sharp things.

Her most feared technique was one called Needles if that was any indication.

The last few weeks had been hectic. Reports of guerilla, hit-and-run attacks had been pouring in from all the border scouts. Yuusuke was awarded no sleep half the time, rushing out to address a serious attack every other day. Keiko reflected sadly that if this kept up, they'd be caught in another demon war. In a single century she'd seen enough of them to hate them and if one started now then it could go on for over a year and how would they visit their daughter if they could not risk leaving the Third Realm?

Sighing, Keiko ran her fingers through her long, jagged hair, hues of blonde, orange, gold, black and pink shining silkily under her neatly manicured claws. Her hair was strange and new to her odd, unpredictable; it tended to change color according to the seasons and often grew too fast. Her human incisors had lengthened to carefully proportioned fangs and her skin darkened to a shade of walnut brown. Her ears had tapered to gentle points and her senses increases a hundred fold, but otherwise she was still Keiko.

And she still loved Yuusuke. So it bothered her to see him so agitated, always tense and ready to take off the moment trouble sprung up. Her demonic instincts said it was natural for a Toushin to protect his territory, but the human side of her pointed out that even an S-class demon needs to sleep eventually.

She propped her chin on her hand, elbow leaning on the hand rail beside her. But what could see do? She was, at heart, not a fighter. She could defend herself, surely. Her power had reached a low level A-class and her legendary dispatching of a deadly assassin in her court had stunned the kingdom, but what had they expected from the mate of Yuusuke Urameshi? However, she didn't enjoy this new found stress. She wanted more than anything to go to the Ningenkai and see her baby-girl again.

She'd be sixteen now.

Keiko felt tears gathering. Oh no. Not again. She did not need to be depressed now. She was busy to be depressed. Darn it.

"MISS KEIKO!"

"AHH!" screamed Keiko as something popped up from the bottom of the balcony and hovered in front of her. A set of familiar blue eyes, round with urgency peered down at her from the railing (she'd fallen artlessly on her butt) with something like near-panic. Clutching her chest and sucking great gasps of air she stared haplessly at the new arrival with mixture of polite confusion and annoyance. It was bad enough he'd startled her, worse yet when she was feeling so rotten.

"Keiko! I have t' be taklin' with Urameshi! S' important, that it is!" he chattered.

Keiko stared. Why was he carrying a little winged demon girl in his arms?

She frowned and caught his wrist, guiding the hyperactive wind-elf out of the air and toward the ground. "What is it, Jin?"

Jin opened his mouth to go on, but the sound of someone running toward the terrace stopped him. Moments later a lithe, ebon-skinned figure with fire-red hair and pale eyes sprinted out onto the balcony in time to see Jin landing on the ground beside Keiko. Veil frowned. He recognized the mischievous Wind Master from his previous visit to the Third Realm. Together he and Urameshi fueled one another's impulsive personalities. One three days they had pulled more pranks on the members of the court than he was willing to recall. One transgression stood clear in his mind.

The Noodle Incident and we'll leave it at that.

Dark days...dark days...

"Wind Master?" he said mildly, expecting a goofy grin and some too-fast-to-be-understood-chatter.

Jin however, looked nothing like he usually did. Veil was disturbed to see his care-free blue eyes clouded with a haunted look of anxiety and a poisonous look of dread. The girl in his arms was a variable he could not figure out, but it was obvious something was amiss with the shinobi.

"Trouble. I have t' see Urameshi," he repeated.

Veil nodded mutely, but looked to Keiko. "A ferrygirl is here. Botan I believe. Yuusuke would like to see you right away."

Keiko's mouth dropped open and hung there. "Botan? Oh gods! Let's go!" Without another words she seized both Jin and Veil by the arm and yanked them down the hall. Minna cheered happily in Jin's arms, glad to be seeing bold and bright new places such as this. What fun she was having since her family had died.

* * *

****

**_-Devil in disguise..._**

**

* * *

**

**Author Note:** Terribly sorry for the delay. The entire chapter got deleted and I had to rewrite it. Sucky huh? Anyway, I'm aiming for a shorter story than all my other epic fics of random prattling. Expect this fic to fly so please buckle up and return your seats to their full and up right positions. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Cloud8.9: I think her muses are on the fritz, she had no idea what the heck she's doing.

Muse1 (Cheezit): (waving papers around and racing around the room) Hey! I have some new ideas! What do think of killer high schoolers, college students? How 'bout an avalanche and then...

Me: T.T Slow down! I can't take it! (sobbing)

Cheezit: Suck it up pansy girl! We have a fic to write! (slaps papers on the desk)

Cloud8.9: Think of it as a plane-ride...with the pilot blindfolded. Hold on tight.

Cheezit: R&R! We need the critiquing. Some people are getting lazy. (glares are Syco and Cloud8.9)


	7. Psychedelic Cinema

**Disclaimer: **Bite me.

**Story Thus Far: **Botan and Jin are at Yuusuke's keep, but with strange sickness and war threatening it might not stay such a haven for long. Mika is going on a snowboarding trip, Kurama's chaperoning...oh! And Touya's back...

Enjoy Chapter 7!

**Psychedelic Cinema**

"Touya!" Shizuru laughed.

The Ice Master smiled, odd for him, but Shizuru presumed it the result of having to track a deadly and highly unstable demon on par with nitroglycerine. He was probably relieved to see them. She folded her arms and quirked a smile at the diminutive ice demon as he stepped from the shadowing foliage. But something seemed...missing. Wait...Wind Master? Jin's absence suddenly clicked in her mind. The hyperactive little cookie-elf usually kept himself within poking distance of his surly partner. Shizuru seldom saw the wind demon from the other shinobi's side...

...so where was he?

"Hey, Kool-Aid. Where's the carrot-top? Shouldn't he be screaming down my ear and flying in circles right about now?" inquired the demon-huntress dryly.

Touya shrugged a slim shoulder, stopping a couple yards away to think it over. "I believe he had an urgent errand to attend in Yuusuke's realm," the demon said candid as usual. "He left only this morning. Seemed in a hurry to get there."

Shizuru examined Touya a moment. The ice apparition regarded her with lucid blue orbs in return. Something set off an infinitesimal chord within her, the resonating ripples of caution fluttering through her body and spirit. The tingling sensation left in its wake nestled in her fingertips alerting her to something amiss. She frowned, unsure whether or not to throw caution to the wind. This particular demon detection technique set itself off at the hint of powerful and unfamiliar energy. However, it tended to go off sporadically and she rarely trusted the warning.

It was the spirit equivalent of that little voice in your head that says, "Eep! Fear! Be afraid!!" the moment before you realized it was your cat, Fluffy. She dismissed it with a mental wave of her hand and ran her fingers through her hair. All spiritual paranoia aside, Jin's sudden departure somewhat baffled her. Jin knew what kind of predator and assassin Karasu functioned as. Why leave his comrade – however skilled – alone to contend with something of such insidious nature?

While she pondered, Alaster smiled around the sucker in his mouth and picked up where she left off. "Thank whatever fates are watching you. I thought you guys were in some kind of trouble," Alaster said, moving to greet the ice demon. Touya's pastel blue gaze flitted to the fox-demon and he smiled wider still.

"Oh no. Jin's just fine I'm sure and I'm in...one piece anyway. Though I'm certain I didn't escape Karasu unscathed," Touya replied, speaking way too many words than could be legal in Ice Master World. Alaster paused, downy fox ears flicking thoughtfully back and forth. He smiled, albeit a shade weaker than before and tipped his head at an angle. Shizuru tugged at a stray wisp of hair clinging to her forehead as she always did in thought. Something was just...wrong. Shizuru had once watched a DVD on a badly formatted TV setting, where the perspective was off. It made every character seem out of proportion or misplaced in every shot. Now _reality_ was out of focus and every move badly choreographed.

Touya smiled that strange, negligent smile. Open. Hauntingly open on the ice demon's usually somber features.

Shizuru's senses fluttered. Little voice of fear began to shriek profanity and smack her upside the head with something hard and lumpy. "IDIOT! Touya is EVIL! EVI-_IL_! SATAN INCARNATE! _DO_ SOMETHING STUPID!!" _Smack! Bam! Pow!_ Shizuru felt her inner self receive a nasty concussion and the not-so-little voice of fear ranted on. "Hel-LO! MOVE! Fight! Kick ass! SAVE ALASTER YOU MOTION CHALLENGED CLOD-POLE!!"

As if on cue, the half-breed moved closer to the seemingly innocent shinobi. The camera focused and suddenly Shizuru was the director of her own little cinema sequence. Close up on Touya's face. A slight quirk of the mouth, sinister, clear-cut gleam of pupiless eyes. Quick cut to Alaster, hands loose at his sides far, far, so far away from his hair and his precious seeds. Vulnerable, unsuspecting, the first victim in this psychedelic horror flick that Shizuru bore witness to. All it needed was shrieking background music and popcorn.

The knobby object hit her several more times and it the world spun, shifted a couple inches and righted the perspective. Suddenly Touya's upcoming reply seemed horribly obvious. No way! Cut! Freeze! Everything stop! Rewind! Something! Her body finally reacted to all the thoughts, memories and conclusions racing through her mind and she snapped into – Lights! Camera! - action.

"Alaster! NO!" she screamed.

"What?" the fox demon queried, perplexed by his friend's sudden outburst. Shizuru watched, mortified as it turned horror flick on her. Alaster, turned around to look at her, eyes leaving Touya. The ice demon smiled; still grinning that insane little smile at Shizuru over Alaster's shoulder. She couldn't even get out the words in time. The Ice Master hooked his left arm up in a lethal looking 'L' and ice zipped up the length of his forearm and the blade formed with a breath of glacial energy that stirred his misplaced green bangs. He didn't hesitate. He punched out his arm and drove his icy sword at the fox's lower back.

* * *

Fact: Shizuru was a bitch.

Fact: Cloud hated Shizuru.

Fact: Though all of the above were truth that did nothing to free the infuriated shadowkai from her newly malevolent grip. He could not turn away from this dark mission, leave the human girl behind and still keep his soul in tact. Though the foremost part of his mind told him he owned her nothing and though his logical side rather agreed with this argument, there existed at ever present nagging doubt. The little shoulder angel that timidly tapped him and reminded Cloud that if he did not help her she would surely die and then he knew he couldn't let that happen no matter how much he wanted to wring her neck himself.

Which was exactly why he was marching into the Dame Yume alone; to prevent himself from doing just that. Cloud could feel his body shaking in reaction to Shizuru's advance. The humiliation and hatred. His shoulders felt hot, prickling along his spine like heated needles his ire mounted in the dark angel equivalent of a wolf's hackles rising. Already his spirit energy coiled around him, slithering and slinking across his shoulders, through his unkempt hair and undulating through the folds of his trench coat. The jacket billowed out behind him in a dark wave of cloth and anger as he stormed through the woods in a rage so primal he felt he could have sank his fangs into someone's throat.

Moss smoldered and burned black as he swept past, crumbling from the surrounding bark as the Blood Oaks groaned, straining against his overwhelming darkness. Cloud stopped his furious march and spun on his heel, screaming his rage into the shadows of the surrounding forest. He whirled, twisting his body in a tight circle simply to expel his pent up frustration in the form of motion. He shouted terrible things into the trees, things spoken only by the kin of the Unlit and only to the truly deserving. Not behavior he usually glorified.

However, anything that involved Karasu pierced him, sinking cold metal deep into his soul and wrenching his conscience; driving him on this insane quest to hunt down Karasu for s girl he'd known only a couple days a _century_ ago. It was the puppet theory all over again. Those invisible strings sunk deep into his being, tugging perpetually at his body and mind. So powerful were these compulsions that Cloud often felt his actions were not his own but those of some other, more malevolent deity. Maybe his actions had never been his own. Maybe even now he was another cat's paw?

A puppet?

Cloud heard himself growl, a deep throaty rumble more attuned to a panther than a person. He caught himself sharply and took a calming breath.

No. He couldn't let rage control his action. Think. _Clear your head, Cloud. Just calm down_, he thought, steadying himself. He'd have to be on guard. The deeper they traveled into the Makai the more dangerous his reactions could be.

If he wanted to live long enough to actually confront Karasu he'd have to keep himself in check. Until then, he had to remind himself that Shizuru used to be a friend. She used to have a heart and at one point his mistake with Karasu had nearly cost her and her friends their lives. He had to make up for that. He hadn't killed the crow like he'd set out to do, therefore he was responsible for making sure the monster met his end. Right. Think of it that way. He owed her this one favor, and then he was gone.

Cloud ran slender fingers through his unruly blonde hair and drew a steadying breath. Not a problem. He could do this. After all, this was real life and it was three against one. Karasu may have incredible powers of a quest demon but Cloud – had he been a gambler – would have bet heavily that the raven-haired creature stood no chance against the combined skills of a team like this. Heck, Alaster even _looked_ like Yoko Kurama and Shizuru seemed to have picked up on demon hunting as a favorite hobby.

He was probably blowing this whole thing way out of...

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

Dramatic irony laughed like a drunken clown somewhere in the background while Cloud shot off in the direction of Shizuru's screaming curses. Branches flew by him as he darted through the boughs of the twisted canopy. He sighed, reflecting that perhaps somewhere out there Lady Luck – that bitch – would cut him some slack. Surely this much misfortune all in a row unquestionably proceeded a run of good luck?

Somewhere out there Lady Luck choked up and fell on her posterior, laughing said part of anatomy right off.

* * *

Alaster ducked, yelping as a breath of frosty air stirred the hair between his flattened ears. That breath, however, belonged to the momentum of a swinging ice saber, one that had barely missed shearing his ears from his scalp. A sharp 'heh' of dry and/or insane laughter followed the assault and only by quickly rolling back and launching into a backhand spring did the dexterous fox avoid the follow-up stab that punctured the earth he'd been crouching on moments before.

Panting he stuck an awkward landing and rolled across the uneven ground, roots and lumpy earth digging into his spine. His spine. Yes. That ever important spinal column which was – Yes! Awesomeness! – intact! Woo! Sweet life shall go on! The half-breed celebrated as he lunged away from the hunched figure of Touya the Ice Master, only yards away. The ninja crouched close to the forest floor, frowning at the blade embedded in the ground in front of him and not in his victim's back.

Pouting, as if sorely cheated, the shinobi tore the blade from the ground in a sharp _ch-chang!_ of ice and dirt to cock his head toward his stunned companions. A crazy grin lit up handsome features with something like glee and insanity as he dismissed his ice blade. In a soft hiss of frost and snow he freed his arm, slender fingers flexing away the last of the stiffness.

"Damn. You move faster than I anticipated," he chided himself casually, shaking out his wrist. He grinned evilly at the fox demon. "I'll have to make up for that."

Alaster quickly rose to his feet, raking his claws through his hair and sifting a single seed from his silvery blue tresses. He felt Shizuru shift at his side, a glitter malice and energy sparking in her gaze. Feeling reassured he let her step in beside him. The girl had her mask securely about her lower face, eyes fierce and slitted. Her fingers, sheathed in their long, supple gloves, snuck silently around her back, searching for the long well worn hilt of her favored long blade.

"What are you playing at Touya?" whispered Shizuru softly.

The slender ice demon frowned as if unable to comprehend what this might entail. Surely, stabbing one's teammates, threatening and laughing at them accounted as normal social conduct. Such strangeness.

Then he smiled again and lifted a slightly misting hand, frosty fog drifting from cold fingers as he snickered. Then the ninja began to trace inane little etchings in the air before him, letting the residual mist hang in the air after his doodling index finger. Alaster and Shizuru exchanged subtle glances. Had Touya gone completely insane? Was this Karasu's doing?

"Play? Sure. I know a great game. You ningens even know this one. Its lots of fun, but you have to be quick." Touya's eyes slowly, slowly glittered, glowed and the radiance intensified. His whole hand glowed and the misty symbols he'd been 'doodling' in the air began to shimmer. "Playing tag with demons is a high-risk sport!"

Then he attacked.

Shizuru and Alaster knew Touya well enough to evade the first terrifying move. The Ice Master, while his gift of ice in itself was not a terrible threat Touya's fluid speed and technique with the chilling element made him downright fatal. His strategy came in two waves.

First the spells – and they were spells – he'd been inscribing launched themselves at Shizuru and assaulted the demon huntress in a flurry of darting and diving creatures. A moment of shock passed and the girl realized they were, in fact, birds. Icy white birds of ice, frost and energized mist they blurred and became unsubstantial until the moment of impact, where they reformed and slit shallow cuts into her arms and snipped at her shorn hair.

She instantly whipped her two long blades from their sheathes and sliced two glittering marks in front of her, shouting a short word of power. The air pulse and hummed with neutralizing energy and the vibration swept through the cloud of streaking aviaries. The birds whined like splintering ice over a lake and shattered into tiny shards of ice and snow. She had no time to celebrate. Wave two nearly took her off guard as Touya's infamous Shards of Winter...didn't touch her. In fact, she'd been positive he'd go for the long range assault.

So in direct contrast to her thinking the nubile shinobi had darted in close under the cover of aerial assault. Only the lilting snicker and the flash of blue-green energy before his strike forewarned her. With a hiss, she veered under the anticipated attack and Touya's fingers, humming with cold energy, groped empty air as the young woman slipped away from his attack. She jumped away as the ninja launched himself off the ground like a coiled spring. Shizuru narrowly missed having a blade of ice rammed through her abdomen as the demon jabbed with his right and clawed with his left.

"Don't let him touch you!" Alaster screamed, telling her what she already knew. "He'll freeze your entire body through your spirit energy! Get away!"

Shizuru blocked swiftly with her long blades, dancing haphazardly through the smirking ice demon's lightening fast attacks. Ice ground on steel as enchantments sizzled on contact with the cold demonic aura, eating at it, fighting to protect her from the freezing energy. But while she could hold off being skewered on his sword, his searching hand quickly became the greater threat. One touch and it was over.

"Be careful!" Touya taunted as he only just missed catching her flesh with his deadly left hand. "Careful! Careful, Shizuru! Watch it! You don't want to get tagged! Then you'll have to freeze until I say the game is over!"

"Game?" Shizuru whispered fiercely, hissing as patches of frost crept up the side of her long gloves. Touya's eyes gleamed, not blue but a deep, crimson of wine and raspberry blood. A familiar glow. She recognized it in an instant and hatred pumped through her like a venom straight to her heart. Touya snickered softly as he attacked again, driving her back. Surprise, speed, technique and strategy; Touya had her ensnared in his sadistic trap.

If she drew back and the Ice Master would simply use his favored Shards of Winter attack or – more horribly – his Mists of December. The mists would suck the breath from your lungs when you exhaled and freeze your chest from the inside out if you dared breathe in. The only way to escape was run or get in close so the Ice Master couldn't use it for fear of harming himself. However, from this far back most of her attacks could be dodged and deflected by the trees. She could have blasted all the trees away but ...it was Touya. She didn't want to kill him.

"Alaster!" she screamed, backpedaling furiously to evade Touya's assault. "Use the Rose Whip! Quick!"

"You're too close to him!" he protested, over the crack of his newly formed weapon. He fretted as Touya drove Shizuru in a tight circle of ever widening frost. "I'll hit you!"

"No you won't! You can do it, Al! Just – _AH_!" Shizuru cried out as frostbite seared through her black under armor, blistering the skin along her collar bone. Touya made a strange laughing noise of almost childish delight. Shizuru locked eyes with him a moment and in that instant Karasu stared back at her. Her eyes widened. There was no way...

Touya snickered and drove the heel of his foot into her chest, plowing the girl to the ground and ending her thoughts. She screamed in pain as she smashed through the trunk of a tree, shattering the fragile wood and bashing to a stop against the one behind her. Her head smacked the truck, it splintered against her skull and she slumped to the ground, listless.

Touya threw back his head and laughed gales of hilarity that built into a mad crescendo. He cut off his laugh with startling abruptness. Swinging his intensely crimson eyes toward Alaster he froze an instant. His insanity seemed to spark some recognition at the sight of the half-youko. He dismissed Shizuru and turned toward the younger opponent. The fox lifted his Rose Whip and stepped back slightly, fingers gripping the un-spiked handle of his chosen weapon. He beckoned the ice demon closer if he so dared.

"I don't think so," Touya hissed. "I made that mistake with Kurama. Not with you."

The Ice Master whipped his arms straight behind his back and lashed out in a pantomime of punching some invisible opponent. Power rippled up his arms and spewed into the air as a shimmering swell of spirit energy. Alaster swerved as the wave of unforgiving frost washed over the patch of forest he'd just occupied. The fox demon felt a sharp sting on his lower ankle and landed awkwardly, skidding and toppling on his side. He hadn't even drawn a breath before that's same coldness swept across his entire body. Alaster shouted in agony as searing frost coated his skin and fur, freezing him against the ground in a cold embrace.

Touya only shrugged his shoulder slightly as the young fox demon moaned haplessly.

"Not quite as fast Yoko. But it was a nice try," he commended the dispatched fox-spirit.

"We'll see," Shizuru hissed, unexpectedly, from behind him and grabbed a fistful of his hair between glittering fingers.

The ice demon yelped as she yanked and kicked his ankle out from beneath him simultaneously. He went down and smacked his head hard against the ground, giving her a chance to drive her long blade through his left hand, pinning his palm against the dirt with extreme prejudice. She leapt away, knowing she had disabled his most potent weapon – the Ice Touch – What disturbed her: Touya didn't even scream.

Abandoning the spiked Touya she rushed toward her longtime partner.

"Alaster!" she hissed, falling on her knees beside the trapped youko. Her fingers fell on his ice-coated skin and nearly froze themselves against the fox spirit's arm. "Alaster!"

A small moan drifted up from the stiffened youko and Shizuru let loose the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. He lived still, but Alaster did not escape unscathed. His silver blue hair was completely rigid against his shoulders, his lithe body immobile, frozen. Until he thawed or Touya removed the ice the fox-demon was useless. Shivering through the frost she heard a weak murmur that sounded distinctly like 'I'm sorry, Sis.' Her fingers coiled into a fist.

There was a grinding hiss of metal on dirt and flesh. Shizuru spun and snatched, fingers snagging the hilt of her own blade before the point buried itself in her heart. Touya smiled with ruby-red eyes. He dropped his arm after having thrown her own weapon and advanced on her. Mist was gathering at his bloody finger tips, deathly and cold. Shizuru lifted her blade, letting a trickle of her power flow into the weapon.

"I don't want to kill you, Touya, but if Karasu did this to you then I know you'd want me to!" she shrieked at the approaching demon.

Touya showed no signs of slowing, only hissed something as he drew nearer, body building in energy and power. "Distinctly I remember it was the bleak December," he quoted softly.

"You can't use the Mists of December! You'll kill us all!" Shizuru shouted, feeling a surge of dread. He was almost on her. She had to strike him now if she meant to. Her arms were shaking and her fingers felt numb. The ice demon stood only six paces away. Five. Four.

Touya ignored her and went on. "And each dying ember," he murmured.

Shizuru clenched her fingers about her blade so hard she feared her nails were digging bloody little grooves in her palms. Hundreds of thoughts shot through her brain as she stood there, watching the distance close between them. _Why is he attacking us? Did he kill Jin? Is Karasu to blame? What else could explain that oh-so familiar glow of violet-red in his eyes?_ –and most horribly- _When he gets close enough...where should I stab him? Jugular? Heart? Or go for overkill and take his head off?_

She couldn't believe she was making this decision. Not 'where to stab', but to kill or _not_ to kill.

Touya need only take one more step and she would have to strike. She didn't want to take his life. His pale haunting, features looked appallingly handsome and young in that instant. Man! She'd known him for nearly a century and she just _now_ noticed how hot he was? How vulnerable without his coldly glaring façade (not counting his new insanity). Gods! Is this what everyone _else_ thinks before they have to kill a friend or was this _just_ her?

He smiled and finished the – arbitrarily familiar – verse. "Wrought its ghost upon the floor."

* * *

-So...cinema moment here.

Does damsel die or deliver death, therefore living to suffer through the guilt for all eternity? Oh, what angst. What drama. Box-office blowout baby. All you dismal tragedy lovers out there go crazy it's time for a climactic inner conflict... Well, that's not going to happen. The reason? Because this conflict happens to have a 'hero' of sorts and he's about to make an entrance, but since this isn't a movie he chooses not to vent a heroic battle cry and blow his cover. Since it's difficult to describe such a stealthy action its best that you know said 'hero' is silent because the next sound – the sound Shizuru hears – would make no sense if you didn't know he was silent. Ok. Cue the action sequence!

_Whoomp_!

_Well, that was odd... _thought Shizuru avidly. _And where'd Touya go? _she added, blinking at the air where said ice demon had previously stood.

"BE THAT OUR WORD OF PARTING!" screamed a familiar voice, upstarting. "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as token on that lie thy soul hath spoken!"

"SHUT UP!" Cloud screamed back, pounding his fist into Touya's temple and stopping his frantic dirge. The ice demon protested the abuse with a sharp 'OW!' and retaliated by driving his foot hard into Cloud's knee, aiming to shatter the kneecap. Luckily, the dark angel jumped the kick and returned the favor by kicking Touya's in the head. Landing, he grabbed the stunned Touya by the tunic and hurled the blue-eyed Ice Master away from him.

"Just shut _up_!" he finished angrily.

Touya, dexterous as ever, righted himself mid-air and landed in a cat-like crouch at the trunk of a Blood Oak. His eyes glowed maliciously in the darkness and he carefully rose to his feet, entire body alive with blue energy. Cloud's breath fogged on the air as he felt frost creeping up his boots and edging the forest leaves. Touya's power spiked and the grinning ice demon snapped out of perception and struck.

Cloud let himself crumple to the ground and evaded the initial attack as hundreds of icy spines whistled through the air inches above his soft blond hair, rumpling it as they passed. Cloud spun himself on his hands and whipped his legs around in a powerful roundhouse kick. Touya, having just finished his attack, barely leapt over the dark angel's lashing feet and lunged away. Cloud curled his knees to his chest and arched his back, whip lashing himself to his feet and launching himself at the deranged shinobi.

Shizuru, using spirit energy to warm Alaster's frozen body, watched everything as it happened. Her outspread fingers hummed with energy, warm, yellow reserves of healing power soaking the fox's stiff frame. The demon huntress sighed. He had the potential, but not the planet time to be great. Right now his experience or lack thereof had nearly cost him and her their lives.

Meanwhile, Touya – using his functional right arm – summoned a quick blade of ice and coiled him legs in a cat-like posture, ready to murder his new assailant. Cloud, feeling mutual thoughts, tore both Ash and Raven from their holsters and took aim at the crouching ice demon. Touya's blood tinted eyes narrowed and a smirk pulled at his lips. Cloud bared fangs in a feral snarl and pumped the twin handguns simultaneously; firing his favored weapons at the nimble ice demon. Touya blurred and morphed into a mess of after-images and narrowly evaded the first three shots, appearing only for split-seconds wherever he changed direction.

Cloud smirked as he heard the fourth and fifth find their mark.

Touya did scream this time. Cloud knew why and could almost sympathize. The warding spells he'd placed upon the bullets and guns turned normal slugs into high velocity acid to otherwise untouchable youkai. The sensation was something like having you blood set on fire where the bullet penetrated your body. Weaker demons combusted on contact.

Returning to normal perception, the shinobi reappeared to collapse on the ground, writhing and clutching his bleeding shoulder. He groaned through gritted teeth and curled into a fetal ball of pain. A shallow wound across his thigh oozed slowly where the fourth shot had nicked him. His ragged breathing caught in his throat as he turned a Cheshire smile on the ever wary shadowkai.

Cloud sighted Raven and Ash at the ice demon's head with merciless accuracy and slowly crossed one foot over the other and side stepped, circling the demon carefully. He would kill the ninja if need be. Cloud doubted the shinobi was interested in sharing his reason for this un-invoked assault. He seemed a bit loopy to the dark angel.

"What a surprise, the angel returns..." Touya mumbled, beaming inanely up at the gun-wielding youkai. His eyes intensified in their crimson hue. "Hello, little raven."

Cloud felt himself stiffen. Synapses fired; electrodes and mental pathways snapping recall through his brain. De-_ja_-vu. His vision suddenly darkened and narrowed to a dull tunnel. Slow, slippery fingers of dread snaked up his spine in a sickly sensual sensation. He couldn't stop himself from shuddering, convulsing as his stomach rebelled against the sudden recollection. Two words...and all those gross impressions that came with them. Cloud's chest contracted painfully on his rapidly breathing lungs.

Touya's expression never changed as he pressed on, snickering insanely. "And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming. What an enchanting thought. You dreaming?" he inquired.

His scarlet purple gaze seemed to intensify. Cloud's head felt light, his body detached. Violet red washed over him, consuming him. Shizuru, watching only yards away noticed just the slightest off-kilter slant in his gun arm, slowly slipping sideways. Her tawny cat-like eyes inched up to the blonde's face and found it far more pale than usual and his eyes more garnet that black. His pupils had contracted so far in his fear that his irises reduced them to mere pinpricks in his gaze.

_Shit_, was her silent sentiment.

The shadowkai jerked his head suddenly, shaking himself as if to shed some momentary lapse of awareness. Raven's barrel dipped dangerously and lost its target on Touya and Ash followed her sister's unfocused path. That moment of weakness became a cue and the ice demon leapt up in a blast of glacial power and charged the dark angel. Startled, Cloud yanked Ash back up but too late to stop the agile Ice Master. Touya struck the gun aside as he pulled the trigger. Shizuru shouted something in the background and the bullet ripped up through the canopy and the leaves it clipped burst into flames overhead.

Cloud dark attuned eyes were taken off-guard by the sudden flame of light and – for an instant – he was blinded. His pupils contracted in a ring of garnet and he blinked just as Touya drove a yard of razor sharp ice through the dark angel's mid-rift. Cloud hissed as the ice slid through his body and managed to keep himself conscious through sheer stubborn will. Touya, laughing like a child in a game, planted a foot against the slender demon's shoulder and sprang off his chest, yanking his weapon from the immortal's body and flipping backward to land on an upraised root.

"Cloud! Stop screwing around!" Shizuru snarled, looking up from her task of defrosting poor Alaster. "Just do it already!"

"What do you mean by 'it' precisely?" wheezed the dark angel, looping an arm around his wounded belly. Thank the fates Touya was too insane to strike for the heart instead of the stomach.

"_It_!" she repeated while slapping the thawed Alaster about the face and failing to wake him. "Use your energy or I'll finish the job for you!"

"Bitch," he muttered.

"That's right, little raven. Why don't you hit me?" Touya laughed, shameless in his goading. "Go on. Let's see some shadowkai power, or are you too afraid? Can't handle one ninja, little raven?"

"What _is_ it with you people and calling me the wrong name?" Cloud burst out furiously, jamming Raven and Ash back in their holsters. "It's Cloud, godsdamn it! CLOUD! It's not _that_ hard to remember! And _you_!" He glared at Touya (or more specifically the one behind Touya's eyes). "You just need to die."

So, pissed as hell, the dark angel swept his arms in a wide arch across his chest, crossing his hands and fanning his gloved fingers like cards, horizontal to the ground. Touya arched a brow. Cloud's posture became hunched and stiff. Inky tendrils of darkness seeped from the folds of his too-large jacket like cobras from their lairs, coiling about his slender frame and sucking the light from the air around them. The best way to describe it is comparing it to darkening the tint setting on your television. The brightness just faded from everything.

Invisible wind stirred the platinum blonde of his hair and a hellish glow leaked into his ruby irises, lending his gaze a nightmarish quality. He lifted his face to narrow his horrible eyes at the ice demon who only grinned that psycho smile.

"I won't kill you only because _he_ would win if I did. If he has something to say to me you'd better tell me what it is, because I'm about to end this," he said flatly. Shizuru, supporting a confused and only half conscious Alaster, listened to him closely, watching the two opponents. She studied every move, seeking weakness, strength, changes in fighting style or power. This was a golden opportunity to evaluate her possible opponent for future exploitation. .

Touya seemed to agree to the dark angel's sentiment and laughed, holding up open hands in surrender. "Caught me," he confessed, beaming. "There's an epidemic, little raven. It's spreading and there's only one person who knows the cure."

Shizuru, dumping Alaster on the ground, stood up and stepped toward the chatty ice demon. "What epidemic?"

"_Who_ knows?" Cloud countered, glaring at Shizuru for intruding.

Touya frowned suddenly in thought and clasped his chin between thumb and forefinger. "Wait. There are _two_ people who know the cure. The person who created it and the one you must find if you want this epidemic to end."

"Oo-kay," Cloud drawled as if annoyed. "Who is the _other_ person who knows?"

"But wait!" Touya laughed obnoxiously, delaying the answer yet again. Shizuru twitched. If the Ice Master ever returned to normal she doubted she could ever look at him without the memory of that awful laugh. He lifted his face and raised his hands as if to say 'now I remember!' "Stupid me. _I_ know the cure!"

"You who?" Cloud snarled. "Touya? Or _Karasu_!"

Shizuru shot him a subtle glance in surprise. Had he read her mind or did he simply know Karasu so well it had been that easy to tell? The glow in his eyes had been a give away, but she'd confirmed it by taking a quick detour through his thoughts while he was fighting Cloud. They didn't belong to Touya. So...what did that fact, perhaps, entail? Perhaps Touya's mind had been destroyed by Karasu and he was simply insane and not the Touya she knew and...erm...love wasn't the word but you get it. Or maybe the more unpleasant option of Karasu having _taken over_ the ice demon's mind. Then again, Touya could be only partially under his control or even influenced by him, but still himself...Ow! Headache. No more speculation! Oh, the pain...

The 'Ice Master who was not' shrugged a shoulder languorously. "Me: Touya. You see Karasu explained the disease to me before – you know."Touya pointed at his head and made a little loop-de-loo. "I was infected and went crazy. Stupid really. I may be sick now, but I'm still pretty damn smart. Mostly, Karasu claws the shit out of you, infects you and you get a whole knew perspective on death, life and all the worthless drivel. He told me to go forth and infect as many people as possible until you lot showed up so I could deliver this message."

Shizuru's head pounded with a growing migraine. "So that means what? Are you Touya or not?"

The Ice Master grinned and said the most predictable thing he could in such a situation. "Yes and no."

"Don't be coy," she sniped. "It's unoriginal."

"Fine. Be that way, but since you're dying to know. I'm still me. Just...the more suppressed version," he said with a definite nod.

Here Cloud queried a thought. "All his repressed emotion, violence, and insanity I suppose?"

"Hey, who's telling the story here?"

Shizuru groaned and pulled her mask from the lower half of her face in irritation. "So in short, he made you a crazy, sadistic, killer that adheres to his every whim?"

"Yes and no," he replied, obviously enjoying it as she squirmed in aggravation. "I wasn't supposed to know this part, but like I said, I'm smart like that and the new me likes to cause trouble so I'll help you out. The person who can cure this epidemic is in hiding but a certain three-eyed someone you know could probably find him."

"Hiei," Shizuru murmured, apparently off in her own little world drawing conclusions.

"You're point?" Cloud spat.

"Not too bright," Touya remarked, seating himself atop the upraised tree root. "Plants. Karasu. Me. Jaganshi. Think about it. Who does that all relate to?"

"Oh no," Shizuru groaned massaging her temples between slender fingers. Cloud shot her a look that appeared as disdainful as he hoped it looked. Truth was he'd made the conclusion at Jaganshi. But she must have been thinking it from the start by the look on her face. Not that it bothered him or anything...not really.

Touya smiled. "Very good," he commended her as if she'd just figured the sum of two and three. "I think I'll be on my way now. I have a couple more cities to infect nearby. Until next time!"

He leapt up and alighted on a thick branch overhead before vanishing completely.

"Godsdamned crow," muttered Cloud. "Like an old dog too set in its way to change."

"So the past, as usual, repeats itself," she spat, hands clenched about her hips. "Fan-freaking-tastic."

Alaster, with perfect timing awoke just in time to hear his partner's venomous snarl. Holding his head he winced and sat up, groaning slightly. "What past?" he asked, unwittingly dooming himself.

Shizuru, now that the threat of being murdered by Touya had passed, remained angry at the implications that his visit had prompted about her own quest. Namely that it might not be her quest anymore, but rather another dandy save-the-world-from-destruction-and-demise little escapade. Lovely. So that meant she was on the prowl for someone to blame and/or vent her rage upon. Cloud wisely remained silent while poor Alaster took the brunt force of her frustration.

"KARASU'S AFTER KURAMA AGAIN!" she shrieked.

A couple demonic birds, start into the air with that resounding conclusion and so ends this chapter.

* * *

**_Director's cut ain't always better.... _**

**_

* * *

_**

**Author's Excuses: **I mean...Note. Author's Note. Heh, heh... Frankly, I blame my muse! She's totally evil! One minute she swamps me with so many ideas I can't type them all, the next she goes dry and leave on an ice cream binge. How can you blame _me_ for that? Anyway, this chapter was lengthy and I only got around to flaunting the new powers of a couple characters, but I feel it was important and opened new exciting possibilities (no thanks to my worthless muse). Terribly sorry once again for the delay, but I had to attend to other things.

Cloud8.9: Like staring at the ceiling for hours in hopes of inspiration?

Me: Shuttup.

Cheezit: GUYS! HEY GUYS! (runs in with a tub of Ben and Jerry's) I HAVE AN IDEA!

Me&Cloud8.9: (look excited) Really?! For the story.

Cheezit: No, you dithering morons! For the Wolf's Rain fic you so sorely neglected! I've read it and it needs revision and an update! Let's go! Chop-chop! Up, up, up! We have writing to do you slacker! And YOU! (point's at Cloud8.9) Fetch me a spoon or I shall spork you to death with a chop-stick.

Cloud8.9: You can't spork someone with a – (is sporked to death by a chopstick)


	8. Finding Hiei

**Disclaimer:** … (silence of the deeply irritated)

**Story Thus Far: **Snowboarding for Kurama and Mika! Newsflash for Yuusuke and Keiko and Shizuru's dysfunctional trio set off in search of Hiei.

Enjoy chapter 8!

**Finding Hiei**

"YAAAAAHOOOO!"

The howl of sheer exuberance shook snow from tall, mountainous pines as a blur of sleek snow-pants, jacket and stylish black beanie. Several high schoolers making their leisurely way down the powdery slope ended their meandering in a sprawling dive to evade the speeding bullet of hooting teenage girl that roared past them. Snow whizzed up in a powdery tail behind her as she cut a sharp grin in the mountain face, yanking her tail-end abruptly left and switching toe-side to redirect her board for the Snowy Summit Lodge.

Twin boarders fresh off the terrain course hooted and cheered her as she cut a sharp turn and sail up and over a tall sloping jump. Punching the air and simultaneously pulling a mid-air tail-grab aroused loud cat-calls from fellow shredders and a crowd of hard core half-pipe gurus. She stuck the landing with a scathing spray of snow and was gone like a flying illusion down the hill.

"You're hot, chica. Way to ride!" called one cheery looking lift operator. Mika unclasped her boots from her board and hefted it up beneath her arm. Once situated she pried her goggles from her face and carefully placed them across the lip of her beanie. She grinned at the friendly young man and flashed a cheerful peace sign.

"Thanks!" she said happily and tromped off toward the inviting glow of the lodge. Warmth poured over her freezing body as she stepped through the doors, sighing blissfully as the happy crackle of heart fires greeted the girl. Setting her board carefully in the rack by the doors, she stomped her boots clean and walked toward the café. Humming to herself, she stripped of her comfortable outer jacket and draped it over an empty seat, dropping her gloved on the table as she moved toward the counter.

She greeted the dreary cashier manning the register and ordered a cocoa, a cookie, a large burger, fries and a coke to accompany her cocoa. The world-weary clerk rolled his eyes dramatically as he went to fetch the said items, returning with the obscenely large meal stacked, haphazardly upon a tray. Poking her tongue out the corner of her mouth Mika dug around in her pockets in search of her wallet. The cashier rolled his eyes yet again and Mika shot him a dark look.

"Here, let me get that for you," chuckled a voice from behind her.

A long, slender arm placed several dollars and exact change on the counter, soft looking hands laying the currency down with showcase poise. The cashier scooped it up and slid it away without so much as a 'have a nice day' and long before Mika could protest her freeloading. The girl spun around to glare at her overly chivalrous benefactor. She hadn't asked for his aid and she certainly didn't need it and this guy was about to find that out the hard…

A pair of smiling green eyes beamed, amused, down at her.

…way?

"Ahh! Kurama! You jerk! Get away from me! I don't know you, remember? What if someone sees us?" Mika hissed frantically, searching the cafe for schoolmates who might recognize her and the resident red-headed eye-candy.

Her paranoia was so heart-felt that the handsome fox-demon burst into gales of melodic, but controlled laughter and seemed distracted enough to steal his latte from. So naturally Mika snatch at the drink and missed when her world-wise guardian lifted the foam cup from her grabbing fingers. He smiled knowingly at the girl who huffed and grabbed her lunch tray in a flurry of thawing snow, dripping hair and frost-bit cheeks.

"Thanks for lunch, Person-With-Whom-I'm-Unfamiliar, I think I'll go eat it now, bye," Mika chattered and made a break for the table.

Much to her disgust and irritation a familiar green sports jacket hung from the back of the chair opposite her own and two blueberry scones sat, awaiting their red-haired, fox-demon, owner. She fumed silently as an innocently smiling youko breezed by her and slid into the chair across from her own discarded clothing and gestured elegantly to the seat opposite him. Huffing once more, Mika slouched over to the table and flung herself into the chair and dumping her food on the table.

"Must you stalk me?" she hissed, over the table at the demure looking fox-spirit.

Kurama a glanced up from his latte, which he previously stirred with a single red straw. He smiled, his hand stirring undeterred by her (from his perspective) juvenile outburst. "Stalk? Mika, I'm hurt. You know full well no self respecting fox burglar ever 'stalks' their chosen target. Not that you are a target in any way, shape or form, but nevertheless I do not 'stalk'."

Mika rolled her eyes even more dramatically that the cashier and tore a disgusting amount of burger from the sandwich, chomping loudly on it. "T-rribly s'rry," she whistled around the gross mass of rolling beef, ketchup, pickle and lettuce (all visible) inside her mouth. She swallowed the entire lot in one go and stuffed fries in her face with almost violent passion. "Didn't know you'd be so sensitive. I meant to say 'stake out' or something more along the thieving line. I apologize!"

Kurama watched, bemused and smiling as she tore the top off her burger and slapped a mess of french-fries inside the sandwich before taking another oversized chomp of food. Once her maw had been stuff full and all means of comeback were occupied with chewing, the fox-demon ventured toward conversation.

"You know…you're father used to eat his fries in his sandwich like that," remarked the King of Thieves lightly.

Mika stopped chewing and blinked at her legal guardian. Kurama tended to keep the past in the past and rarely spoke of it unless Mika asked it explicitly from him. However, Mika at a young age had determined her adopted big-brother as a deeply conflicted individual beneath his calming, placid green eyes. His collected appearance easily masked long cherished anxieties and scars of both his first demonic life as Yoko Kurama, his rebirth as Suiichi Minnamino, reversion to King of Thieves and then finally his return to the Ningenkai. His soul, despite his attractive youthful wrapper, remained ancient, world-weary and wise.

She wouldn't allow herself to forget that, ever. She didn't want to inflict unneeded memories on the already jaded fox-spirit and respectfully held her tongue on the subject of the past. Even the questions of her father, mother and their past she refrained from. If needed, she knew Kurama would divulge the story for her. Else wise he lived in the present and thought deeply on the world around him and the present time.

"Umm…Well, that's kinda cool," Mika said, grinning. "There anything else I do like him?" As if on cue, a large belch rumble dup from her throat and projected across the room. Several people fell silent and stared at the pretty brunette, unable to believe she could be the source of the disgusting bodily function. She waved sweetly at them and looked back toward her slightly disgusted impromptu date.

"Yes. That," he replied and stirred his latte again.

Mika paused a moment before asking her question. "Kurama…my parents…tell me again…"

"They are the two most brave and pure-hearted souls I have ever met in all my centuries of life," he said promptly. "Just because they cannot abandon their station in the Makai does not mean they wouldn't if given the choice between you and all the power in the Demon World. They love you more than life itself, Mika. That is why they cannot be with you and why I am."

The girl sighed and sucked noisily on her cup of Coke-Cola. "Just wish I could see them again…without a time window or demons hanging over their shoulders."

Kurama wisely said nothing, knowing she didn't seek words for comfort and only offered his presence. They sat there; watching the late-night boarding fanatics slowly filter in and the lodge fill. Finishing her burger and fries she tossed her soda into a trash and started in on her cookie. A glitzy shimmer flared up from the other side of the room and all the mountain vacationers clapped and cheered while the manager bowed low, gesturing outlandishly to the giant glowing Christmas tree set up in the corner of the room.

Mika and Kurama watched wild mild interest as the high-schoolers filed forward to place gifts beneath the decorative pine.

"I guess we're all doing that Secret Santa thing this year," said Mika gloomily.

The fox demon glanced at her. "Were you expecting to receive something? Or did you wish to present someone else with a gift?"

Mika huffed at the more-elegant-than-thou youkai and waved her hand lazily. "Nah. I'm broke remember? Besides no one would give me a-"

Kurama glanced up at the sound of giggling and leapt up, cutting her off and throwing his jacket over his shoulder. He assumed a casual stance beside Mika's table just as a throng of school-girls funneled in the doors. He smiled warmly, but in a very sociable way, looking for the entire world like he was merely chit-chatting with her.

"You'd best head off to sleep," he said quietly. "I'll see you in the morning."

The red-head nodded to her as if to say good-night and moved away to find a seat in a solitary arm chair, discouraging company and uninvited attention. Mika sighed and stood up, gathering her hot chocolate, and cookie for later consumption. As she retreated for the stairs, several of the girls from her school cornered her, materializing around her like the ghosts of forsaken wives seeking love and trapped the girl between the wall and railing.

"Were you talking to Zane?" one squeaked.

Mika glanced back and forth between each desperate, love-struck face and snickered inwardly. "Sure. He asked me what time it was. Can I go to bed now?"

Several girls gasped and became grossly involved in deep, gossip as Mika tramped up the stairs, answering the siren call of her bed.

* * *

-"_Please…please don't…I'm begging you. Please don't…"-_

Pain. Hot, raping stabd of agony, tearing apart his brain, raiding his thoughts and demolishing his sanity. He sobbed, falling to his hands and knees once again, tears falling from already tear-stained eyes.

_-"Why? You know something I want to. Why should I stop?"-_

The question burned against the inside of his skull like hellfire and he screamed, clawing at his head and clutching his palms against pounding temples. His body seized up, muscle spasms racking his slender frame and sending him into yet another seizure. Choking, his pale eyes rolled back and his spine arched up off the carpet. He thrashed, limbs jolting and convulsing of their own accord as their owner heaved telepathic sobs.

_-"B-because they're my friends…I…don't want to see them hurt."-_ he said weakly.

_-"That is no reason."-_ was the callous reply.

He screamed again and fell silent, slumping back to the ground as his mind gave in, buckling under the pressure of another. His clenched fingers uncurled and fell open at his sides, blood welling from the gouges dug into his palms by his own nails. Golden cat-like eyes stared unseeing at the ceiling overhead, expression empty, lips parted in shallow breath. No thoughts passed through his mind as he laid there, no more arguments or pleas. Only a low, whispering hum like that of radio silence broken by static.

_-"It appears I've broken you're spirit, Koenma. How tragic."- _

Static.

_-"Hmm…Mika Urameshi and Zane Yokoma is it? I'd best tell Terrasuka before she loses her patience."-_

Then no more words trespassed on the silence in the young deity's ravaged psyche. Nothing. Silence there…and nothing more.

* * *

"You cannot be for real…" The mutter.

"Excuse me while I pinch myself, check, and slap you. Yes, I'm for real. We're going to Darker Faye and I really don't need your opinion on the matter, Cloudy." The retort.

There came a shuffling of what sounded like a trench-coat, boots on algae covered cave-floor and someone being violently pinched judging by the loud 'OWCH!' of pain Shizuru projected. Alaster made small, grumpy sounds and smacked a nearby clump of familiar algae. The growth squealed in protest and recoiled after emitting a bright, luminescent green glow and revealing the activating of his two, previously hidden companions. Both of whom, were in the throes of what looked like a mean game of tag: Shizuru with her long blade out, Cloud his fangs bared.

"GUYS!" Alaster snarled into the newly lit cavern.

Instantly the two assumed the casual position, Shizuru sheathing her blade in a quick flipping hiss that passed to fast to follow. Cloud turned his snarl into a lazy yawn, and stretched innocently while glancing toward the end of the tunnel they'd been stumbling around in for the better part of – oh, give or take – seven hours and forty-four minutes. Minutes that the, usually laid-back, Alaster could barely take under the social tension amid his two 'teammates'.

With his knowledge of plants Alaster had been quite helpful finding bioluminescent cave algae sprouting from the slippery stones. However, when ever said algae ran out and Alaster could no longer see what his two companions were up to the unsaid adversaries would spring into immediate hostility and proceed to rip each other's throats out verbally ( in Shizuru's case) and literally (in Cloud's case). Though, Alaster couldn't see the wisdom in this, because Shizuru couldn't see in the dark any better than the average human. Though she was skilled in her craft of death-dealing and demon-hunter, she was no night-owl.

Cloud, however, had the gift of shadowkai heritage and amongst the three of them he was easily the most at ease in the new surroundings. From what Alaster gathered, the dark angel saw better in darkness than in daylight and probably drew power from the gloom. What a disturbing thought…

The fox-demon glowered at his guilty teammates and they feigned ignorance to their sin. Cloud coughed. His sunglasses back in place with the new-found light at their disposal. With alien light on his usually life-flushed skin, he looked abnormally … corpse-like. He seemed to be indicating they keep on the move, thought that contrasted violently with his previous displeasure at their destination. If anything, he just wanted to find another patch of darkness to take out his stress on the more than willing Shizuru.

"Darker Faye should be just around that bend," Cloud remarked in a drawling and dispassionate voice, one he'd assumed since Shizuru had decided they head for Darker Faye in search of Hiei. Apparently, the dark angel, for all his… err… darkness, didn't much appreciating having to travel deeper into the shadowy underbelly of the Makai. Darker Faye, of course, laid several levels lower than even the one they'd been on and the shadows only grew as they dug deeper. However, this was their only lead, whether Cloud (or anyone) liked it or not. Shizuru, also angry at her quest's sudden turn for the worst, was consoled if only by the fact Cloud would be suffering just as much, if not more than her during their journey.

Thus, their descent into the Makai began on those dysfunctional attitudes.

"Joy," snapped Shizuru and the trio trailed reluctantly behind her as she stormed around the corner and into the next cavern.

And what a cavern it was. Alaster made a small, choking sound unbecoming of a graceful youko and Shizuru fell uncharacteristically silent. Cloud, in contrast voiced what sounded suspiciously like 'tch' in regards to the massive, awning wonder before them. He ignored his two shell-shocked comrades and sat down on the lip of the tunnel exit, legs dangling over the edge into the empty air spanning before them. Almost half a mile down lay the most intricate and beautiful city either Shizuru or Alaster had ever seen.

Jet black skyscrapers (cave-scrapers…whatever) jutted toward the ceiling of the expansive underground cavern. Hundreds of dark spires, and strangely tree-like buildings stabbed violently, yet elegantly upward and dominated the massive underworld – heck, calling it a big cave seemed way to discrediting – in their strange beauty. But beneath the forest of black buildings a foundation of smaller, more complex suburban traffic and construction thrived like a forest's undergrowth. Glittering lights of dancing faerie fire and spirit energy wreathed the metropolis in a greenish radiance not unlike the glow of the algae in the tunnel.

It was glorious and terrible in the evil it represented.

Cloud yawned, a real yawn this time. "If you're quite done. I'm sure all the faerie in the Rings would love to welcome us to their hell-hole. Did I mention your small, demon-friend has horrifying taste in allies."

Alaster jerked out of his trance and blinked at the dark angel. He seemed… sulky. Do shadowkai sulk? Besides that, the fox-demon spoke. "He became allies with Team Urameshi," he said defensively.

"Horrifying taste," the blonde repeated slowly and with… not quite feeling. He was still on some kind of emotion strike since the start of their descent. Shadowkai sulking.

Shizuru ignored the dark angel and stepped boldly to the edge of the cliff, despite Cloud's obvious temptation to give her a long, hard shove. She grinned fiercely out at the expanse of beetle-black city and shot Cloud a happy little grin.

"Oh, Cloudy's just grumpy cause he doesn't like the nasty dark faerie," she cooed. "They chase him and stab him with their evil pitchforks."

"I'll stab you with a pitchfork," replied Cloud. Without any emotion in his tone it was impossible to tell whether or not he truly meant it. He stood up and began to clamber down the long, living vine ropes that fell toward a lower ledge and a long, curving road toward the city. Hundreds of others just like this one filled the outer expanses of the cavern, all stretched out from the metropolis like threads from a web's centre. Alaster followed the dark nngel over the edge and Shizuru came after him.

* * *

_Clang…Clang…Clang…Clang…_

Mika's eyelids fluttered at the rhythmic beat. The gentle ding of silver bells pulsed against her ears several times more and suddenly she jerked up right, gasping in her bed. Whipped her head about so fast, his neck popped, the girl pinned her gaze against the far wall. The looming outline of the bed-room door stood out like a phantom rimmed in yellow across the dark expanse of her chamber. She clutched her pillow in fear, eyes growing wide with terror as she realized the source of the sound.

Slowly, slowly the noise grew in volume. Terror seized her heart and the girl seized up her comforter and threw it around her trembling body as if the soft, downy sheets could protect her from the horror moving undaunted toward her door. Mika's big, brown eyes flickered to her nightstand. There it was! Gleaming, cold and white in the dim moonlight her only weapon against the attack! But could she facilitate its protection in time? Before they arrived?

Mika's hair clung to her sweat-soaked forehead as the chiming grew louder. They'd turned the corner. They were coming down the hall now and she still had not made a move from the warmth of her bed. The face of the alarm beside her bed glowed a hellish, red 8:32 in the darkness. Eight-thirty! Idiot! Of course they would come for her; she'd known they would yet here she sat, totally unprotected.

_Clang! CLANG! _

"No!" Mika cried.

Snatching the smooth white weapon from her nightstand she lunged across the room in a blur of speed and desperation. The ringing and jangling of voices grew unbearably loud in her sensitive ears. Kurama had warned her. He'd warned her of this monstrous event. He'd even given her the means to prevent it, but she'd foolishly disregarded him. Now she would pay for it!

The brunette vaulted the second bed and launched herself at the bedroom door. Ripping it open she dashed across the main apartment toward the front door of the suite. Her bare feet slapped the cold foyer planks as she sprinted over them and slammed her shoulder against the door. The locks! She'd forgotten the locks!

Frantic now, Mika fumbled with the many, infernal locks and chains adorning the door jam and fought to rip them open. The sound of wailing voices grew in pitch, nearly deafening her with the awful noise. They already stood the next door down from her own. She had one chance at this. Mika, face contorted in determined focus, yanked the door open. She yelped as the banging of bells and the howling of high, childish voices assaulted her delicate ears and nearly retreated back into her room. Steeling herself against the noise, she stepped around her open door and…

…placed the 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign on the doorknob.

Mission accomplished the girl dove back into her room and smashed the door shut. Laughing manically, the teenager sank to the floor in relief. Snickering she reflected happily on all the disappointment on all their evil little faces now that her protection was in place. The Snowy Summit Christmas Carolers wouldn't come banging on her door now that she had her sign in place. Freedom! Sweet freeeeedom!

"Thank you, Kurama!" she laughed, punching the air in victory. Her friends could say what they wanted about her…she hated Christmas songs and she refused to hear them while attempting to get her rest.

Rising to her feet, Mika sighed happily. Well, after that little escapade sleeping had passed far beyond her ability. Oh well. Mika strolled into the neat, new age kitchen and messed with the mini fridge. Producing a bottle of milk, she dug into the cupboard and pulled out the remains of her cookie from dinner. Munching on the delicious confection and gulping the milk in large swallows, the last think Mika, wanted or expected to hear was the sound of someone knocking on her door.

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Furious at being disturbed – was nothing sacred? – while the power of the Do Not Disturb sign protected her doorway, she remained in the kitchen, rooted to the tiles in defiance.

"I'm trying to sleep!" she shouted angrily. "Read the sign."

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Mika went beyond grumpy now; now she was pissed off! No one could force her to listen to Christmas Songs if she didn't want to. That, like, went against Christmas spirit or something. You can't spread cheer if the people you sing too are ready to off you with a chain saw. Mika decided these dysfunctional carolers needed a serious lesson in proper holiday edict and stormed to the door, milk still in hand. Not bothering to hide the evidence she, indeed, had not been sleeping; she ripped the door open and glared…

Down?

Mika stared at the group of ten-year-olds on her doorstep and blinked. The first child, a red-nosed boy with a Santa hat and scarf, sniffled and stared up at her.

"Mika Urameshi?" he asked in a congested drone.

"Umm…yes?" she said, still staring at the bell, wielding group of elementary kids. Kurama said the carolers hired at Snowy were trained chorus singers from Chicago…not a bunch of snot0nosed little kids who should have the right to go play in the snow instead of singing crummy songs for grumpy people.

"You're Mika?" he repeated as if she'd forget her own name.

"Yeah. Look, guys. If people put up the Do Not Disturb sign it means…_don't **disturb** them_. Understand?" she said, folding her arms in a motherly fashion. "It's very rude and you should really-,"

The little boy smiled and exposed a twin set of glittering canines, tapering down into needle points. Mika shut up. The other 'children' also grinned, lips splitting at the corner to pull back across their skull to the ears, baring rows upon rows of shimming fangs. Soon, a gang of grinning, demonic Chucky imitation monsters stood in the hallway, all staring up at her with glowing red eyes.

Youkai. They were youkai.

"Good," said the little demon boy. His childish human voice sounded perverse and evil speaking in the guttural tongue of the Makai. He giggled in a satanic little string of laughter and went on. "Gotta make sure we get the right girl."

Then they swarmed her. Mika screamed, but the first little monster leapt up and clamped a pair of huge, clawed fingers over her jaw, stifling her voice and knocking her back into the foyer of her suite. Mika's head banged against he ground and star erupted behind her eyes. Horrible, skittering claws danced along her body, grabbing, snatching and nicking the exposed skin of her bare legs. (Mika cursed herself for wearing only a T-shirt to bed)

"Get off!" she snarled. "Disgusting little twerps! DIE!"

Blue light burst from her body and hurled the demonic children across the room to crash into the walls around the suite. Several of her neighbors shouted for her to keep it down and Mika instinctively dropped her voice. Cursing oaths to make even the youkai hesitate, Mika flipped to her feet and fell into an immediate boxing stance, quick feet bouncing from one to the other as her first glowed with energy. The youkai who hadn't exploded on contact with her B class spirit energy staggered up, covered in bleeding abrasions and bruised from her pure, untainted youki.

"You're going down you evil carolers from hell!" she whisper screamed.

NEVERMORE! screeched a red-head little girl. The child raced across the room, awning red mouth gaping like a fanged Raggedy Anne doll, blood dribbling between each needle of her barracuda fang forest. She leapt into the air, spitting blood and gore all over the teenager. Disgusted beyond words, Mika punched the air and blue youki burst from her knuckles in a blinding flash. The demon vaporized mid-air but as she did the remaining three bounded across the floor, springing like hellcats, hungry for flesh.

"You won't escape, bitch!"

"The fox won't protect you! HE'S DEAD!"

"We ripped his pretty head off! Now we're gonna rip yours off, girly!"

"Kurama's dead! You're next!"

"LIARS!" she screamed back and opened fire.

Mika basted each and everyone one of them, getting absolutely spray-coated with demon blood as she did. An instant later only the oily smoke of demon residue remained and the bloody mess all over Mika's scratched legs and arms. Taking one look at herself, Mika rushed to the sink and puked into the basin, the metallic odor of blood and death clinging to her skin. Almost in tears, she rushed into the bath room and leapt into the steaming shower. Ripping her clothes off, she scraped her skin raw with a lufa sponge and lathered herself madly in body wash and antibacterial.

Suddenly it occurred to her…if five demons had found her – by name, even – who's to say more didn't lie in wait? The idea of facing a mob of youkai naked did not appeal to the girl. Snatching a towel she raced into her bed room, drying as she went and dug a sweatshirt, panties and sweats from her suit case. Yanking them on, she grabbed her sneakers and jammed them on before sprinting madly for the door. Kurama! She had to find Kurama! He would know what to do! This was his field of expertise; he'd know what to do.

The brunette leapt into the hall, slamming the door behind her as she did. The gory mess of demon blood would vanished by morning light. Without a living body to sustain it, youkai DNA simple burned away in the Ningenkai so the maid wouldn't suffer any. Mika swiped her damp hair from her eyes and began to run down the hall toward the lodge.

"Mika!" shouted a familiar voice. "Mika! Over here!"

A tall, red-headed figure stepped around the corner and Mika burst into tears of relief. With a cry she flung herself into the fox-spirit's arms and wrapped her own limbs around his neck to bury her face in his shoulder. The fragrance of rose, earth, and plants filled her senses and she cried hard into her guardian's shirt. Kurama sank to a crouch in the hallway, shushing the hysterical teenager and holding her tightly while the shock passed.

Mika stuttered into his neck, forcing the words out because she knew she had to say them. "D-demons. They've found us. They called me by name, K-Kurama."

The youko nodded, brilliant emerald eyes glittering in the hallway lights. "I know. I destroyed several groups already. Everyone on the first floor is dead, but you slew the last of them."

"T-they said they'd killed you a-and they looked like kids. KIDS! Kurama I killed a bunch of kids!" she said in horror.

"No!" Kurama said fiercely. Gripping her shoulders he forced her to look at him. "You killed the lowest form of demon. Animals who live for death. You did good, Mika. Don't you ever think otherwise, ever."

She nodded, too shocked to speak. Kurama sighed and stroked her hair the way he did when she'd been only ten. "You did a very brave thing. I'm proud of you, but we have to move before-,"

"At last!" A sultry, feminine voice laughed richly from the other end of the hall. "At long last! The Legendary King of Thieves! I've found him!"

Kurama whipped his head around and flicked his wrist simultaneously turning to see who spoke and arming himself. His distinctive red hair, long cut short, could no longer conceal every seed he carried. Instead the fox-demon hid the organic weaponry on his person and within easy reach. In place of long hair, he took to wearing long-sleeves shirts much lick the one he wore now. A tiny, brown seed fell between his thumb and forefinger, erupting into a long, curving blade of razor grass as his merciless green-gold eyes found their target. At the end of the hall, dressed in a simple, black gown of ebony satin stood the palest, most tragically beautiful woman Kurama had ever seen.

Her alabaster skin seemed frail and filmy in the florescent lighting, her dark gown making her brilliant lavender eyes gleam like gems under the veil of glossy black hair, cascading down her shoulders. The dark red curve of her lips stood out like blood against paper, her smooth complexion haunting in its perfection and cruel splendor. Her eyes burned with an unfeeling emotion that performed a pale mimicry of lust in eyes that had forgotten how to feel such things.

Instead cold hunger devoured Kurama's countenance from fifty feet away. She smiled. An expression so horrible and sad Kurama stepped back to make sure Mika remained safely at his side. He reached his hand out to brush Mika's shoulder, assuring himself of her presence.

"Who are you?" Kurama said tonelessly.

The woman continued to smile…and smile…and smile until – like the children in the hall – her face split and yawned wide to expose a ring of undulating red flesh and fangs. Kurama's gold and emerald spliced irises grew hard as he tensed for battle. Mika stood and clenched her hands until they glowed a hot blue and waited, feeling ill at the woman's hideous transformation. The ruined features of the beautiful woman gargled and slithered revoltingly. Then two serpentine tongues lashed from the back of the woman's throat and from them, her low, lovely voice spoke on.

"I am Terrasuka," she replied, bowing formally and remaining quite polite. "Sister of Karasu and you will die by my hand, beautiful fox. You and the Toushin's child."

* * *

"Is it…always like this?" Alaster ducked as several knives whizzed over his ears. Eyes wide he slowly stood and jogged to catch up with Shizuru and Cloud who wove amid the chaotic crowd with little better luck than him. Alaster skirted closer to Shizuru as a couple cat-calls followed his passing and attempted to somehow hide next to his adopted sister and vanish in Cloud's oversized trench coat. Shizuru glared at the two cat-callers and they shrunk away from her menacing honey-hued stare and into the shadows.

"Yeah." Cloud nimbly dodged a pair of rolling, punching faerie and continued down the broken, cobbled street.

The Faye world throbbed around the trio like some great, orgasmic heart, a rushing, hot-blooded surge of life, death and passion. Where humans would walk, faeries flew, glided, skimmed, teleported and flitted amongst themselves. Hundreds of smooth skinned, waifish faces passed in a blinking blur of colorful shades: pink, purple, blue, green, red, yellow orange, black and blue. Shizuru, for a moment, paused to watch the passing of an ethereal looking pixie wreathed in a glowing white aura. Her entire body seemed meshed from liquid porcelain and her hair alive.

Cloud caught Shizuru's attention by tapping her hard on the shoulder.

"Light sprite. She won't last long down here," Cloud told her. "Let's go."

"Go where? You don't know where Hiei is," she snapped, falling into step beside the immortal.

He cast her a sideways glance, garnet eyes skimming over her. "Sure I do. There's only one Guild he could possibly belong to since he likes his time to himself, has a violent streak and a nasty reputation."

"Really?" Alaster inquired, stepping around a petite black faerie. "Which one?"

Cloud stopped in front of a wide open turn off. Shizuru and Alaster stepped up next to him and inspected the large, vacant street with narrow, squinting eyes. Before them, a dark road stretched away into the shadows, dimly lit by flickering orbs of hanging faerie fire. The strangely plant-like sky-scrapers loomed like demons over the eerily lifeless street. While the citizens of Darker Faye buzzed and zoomed by the shadowy street (like life in hyper-time) the dead and unearthly calm of the street seemed to leer an ill omen to the three top-siders.

Cloud tipped his head back, soft blond spikes slipping across his forehead, shadows playing across his blood-painted irises like phantoms of dark satin.

"Assassin's Guild," he said and began walking.

The soft sound of his boots on the stone seemed to vanish, soaked up by the heavy silence, bane to any sound. He turned and jerked his head down the street, indicating his two companions follow.

Shizuru said something like 'gods damn it' and marched resolutely into down the sound sucking street and caught up with the dark angel. She shoved him as she passed, but not hard as she could have, obviously talking her anger on the nearest person for no other reason than she was probably nervous. Cloud eyed Alaster patiently, waiting. The youko's eyes flickered with a shadow of uncertainty. His tail lashed with apprehension but after a moment he too followed the dark angel into Assassin territory and into the awning mouth of the silence.

They journeyed deeper and deeper into the quiet streets. Soon the buzzing flurry in the central streets became missed, and then longed for. For nearly twenty minutes the silence stretched, neither Shizuru nor Alaster daring to break it lest the words be taboo. Cloud kept his head low, his shoulder hunched and his hands in his jacket pockets. Typical brooding creature of darkness façade, but it seemed oddly appropriate here.

"We're close," Cloud said suddenly.

Alaster jerked, startled and his tail fluffed very slightly at the sudden noise. Shizuru's ocher eyes whipped to the dark angel with the look of a spooked animal before she calmed enough to glare at him. Cloud ignored them both and paused to incline his head. His garnet eyes bounced around the towering structures around tehm as if searching the buildings for some celestial sign of guidance…or maybe a murderer.

Shizuru's hand trailed to her long blades and Alaster casually ran his fingers through his mane of watery blue-silver. Cloud's intense look of scrutiny never slackened and he slowly turned to face a long dark alley-way to his left, hands still deeply buried in his jacket. He ducked his chin, glaring at the shadowy niche as if to burn it with his gaze.

"I never thought I'd see a dark angel set foot in the Darker Faye," remarked a deep, sarcastic voice. "Especially you."

Without missing a beat Cloud replied, "And I never thought I'd see a Jaganshi associate with faerie." He paused and added, mimicking,"Especially you."

The shadows shifted and from the blackness a piece of the darkness broke away from the whole and stepped into the dim street. Long black jacket enveloped the speaker's wiry frame, 'long' being a relative term seeing how that frame stood only about four feet off the ground at best. That didn't include the rebellious explosion of ebony-black spikes jutting defiantly up from the newcomer's head, the centre of his rigid tresses stained by a brilliant white starburst. A black head band encircled his forehead in a neat ring and his former white scarf had been replaced by a set of black, rune etched leather loops. The jacket's sleeves looked cut out to expose corded arms and the tattered white bandages winding up the speaker's right arm all the way to his elbow.

Hiei Jaganshi bared his tapered, ivory fangs in a fierce smile so feral it terrified even those who knew him.

"The fool's older sister, the Fox's kit and the dark angel reject. What a touching get-together," he sneered.

His viciously exotic features turned beautiful and terrible with that smile. His bright scarlet eyes stared at them with ruthlessness so deep Shizuru blanched just looking at him. Then – to their horror – he grabbed the hilt of his katana from its sheath and attacked.

* * *

**_Later stranger…_**

**_

* * *

_**

**_Author's Note: _**I suppose this is my version of a Christmas special. Evil Christmas carolers and a Hiei début. I hope this is enough to satisfy your reading for now. I felt very inspired while writing most of this, so it's probably some of my best writing in a while. I think I was more focused on Mika and Kurama because the little details were more important in their situation.

Cloud8.9: (covered in chopstick wounds) Send money. I can't pay my medical bill.

Cheezit: Oh stop whining you baby! Hey! Syco! We have a Teen Titan story to write! Hurry and wrap up your author's note already! (taps foot impatiently)

Me: Anyway, thanks for reading and please have a Merry Christmas!


	9. Infection

**Disclaimer: **Go away…

**The Story So Far:** Karasu has a sister and she's finally tracked down Kurama and Mika while Hiei seems to have gone 'terminator' on Shizuru's little gang. Back at Yuusuke's Jin has blown in and is about to tell all the ugly details of what the heck is going on.

* * *

**Infection**

****

"Jin! Quit talking so fast! Jin! JIN! You moron. STOP TALKING AND TAKE A BREATH DAMN IT!"

The red-head didn't stop talking, however, in fact despite the unhealthy blue pallor of his skin the wind demon kept right on chattering. By this point both Keiko and Yuusuke had become mildly concerned. Even an A class demon would find it difficult to go without air for over two minutes and Jin had indeed gone without air for nearly four. Not that his urgency helped in anyway, seeing how neither Yuusuke, Keiko, Veil or (the now non-hysterical) Botan could make out a single word he spewing form his mouth.

Minna, the small demon girl with wings sat cross-legged on Botan's lap, grinning happily up at Jin, oblivious to the many dangerous looking demons around her. Veil for instance, had begun to bristle, the usually soft spikes of red hair along the nape of his neck rising like an aggravated wolf. Yuusuke eyed his General uneasily. While the dragon-demon usually kept his cool, the reptilian blood in his veins made him volatile at times. Jin's talking looked to be approaching his last nerve. Keiko became increasingly concerned as their eccentric friend continued on his oxygen deprivation and Botan simply stared at the ninja. At this point she felt certain that Jin wasn't even speaking a real language anymore. Finally there was really no other choice.

_Slap! _

Veil stopped bristling and stared in fascination, while Yuusuke cringed in sympathy. Jin however, took residence upon the floor, right cheek glowing warmly from the impact of Keiko's hand with his face. He blinked for a long moment, large blue eyes blank as gears turned and cranked to figure out just what terrible, painful object made contact with the side of his head. Keiko stood over the wind elf, face serene, arm poised in the home-run-slap follow through.

She opened her wide, almond brown eyes and looked down at him.

"Breathe. Think. Speak," she annunciated.

The magic words seemed to yank Jin's imagination down from whatever cloud it had retreated to and he rubbed the back of his head ruefully. "Ehh…Sorry bout tha'. Guess I jus' lost me head fer a shake there. "

Jin opened his mouth wide and took a loud, long breath and exhaled heavily, entire body moving with the endeavor. He sat there a moment before going on.

"Karasu is back."

Thus, the bomb-shell dropped. Everyone simultaneously assumed the bug-eyed expression of one who has just been kicked in the gut. After a ten second delay Yuusuke instantly went off like a time bomb and a mushroom cloud of profanity detonated across the room. Minna's eyes grew big and shiny with admiration and she leaned eagerly forward to hear more of the terrible name-calling/oath swearing etc. Botan, with all the air of a mother, placed her hands over Minna's ears and glared at the ranting Toushin Emperor.

"Yuusuke! Honestly! There are children in this room," she scolded hotly, all trace of the terrified and sobbing ferry-girl erased by the old, spunky, Grim Reaper they knew and loved. Keiko solved the problem magnificently. Crossing the room in four swift strides she smacked Yuusuke up the side of the head and stopped his swearing against the brick wall of her palm. Both Jin and Veil flinched in pity while Minna laughed hysterically.

Having reduced her husband to moaning and clutching his head, Keiko turned her cool caramel gaze back to Jin who leapt into the air to assume the lotus position and turn upside down. Veil's lip curled back from his fangs and he snorted rudely before turning away from the over-active Wind Master. Keiko ignored the General and dropped her arms at her side, studying the wind demon's sullen expression. His bright orbs, usually alive with life looked dully back at her from beneath lidded eyes.

"Jin…Are you sure?" she asked slowly, almost fearfully.

The red head nodded explosion of wild red hair dancing as he did. "Aye. Swear on me mum's poor soul. Th' bastard's back. He attacked me an' Minna and then he went huntin' after Touya. By th' toime I got there e' was gone, bu' Toy told me he'd fought wid th' monster he had. Told me tha' Karasu's cooked up some kind o' nasty bug to infect all'a th' Makai."

Here Jin paused and fiddled with the tight, fighter tape around his wrists and forearms. As he did, the youthful demon kept his eyes down – up, since he floated upside down – cast. Keiko recognized the shonobi's pause as an attempt to compose himself, her sharp hearing picking up the sound of a hard swallow and the tell-tale rise and fall of the ninja's Adam's Apple. Yuusuke (no longer whimpering in pain) grew sober, his fighter instincts telling him what Jin had yet to say. Botan hugged Minna closer and looked around the room, feeling lost. Veil similarly looked away and the two chanced to glance at one another, both looking equally uncomfortable.

Jin sighed and righted himself, breathing deep and closing his eyes. Yuusuke stepped closer to him and placed a hand carefully on the wind demon's shoulder. The red-head cast his sad look upon his friend and nodded wearily. Sighing he went on, looking for all-the-world like he would start screaming at any given moment.

"He got Touya." Jin said softly. "Th' sickness is passed through th' blood an Karasu cut 'im up somethin' horrible."

"But…I would feel it if a soul that powerful passed on. Touya hasn't died," Botan said somewhat tentatively. "He's still alive. That's good right?"

Jin shook his head. "It's not a killin' sickness, lass, it's a loony-larker's fever. Makes yu' see, say and do crazy things. Loike…umm…when doggies and other critters foam at th' mouth and go bonkers and be bitin' people in th' ass."

"Rabies?" Veil filled in flatly.

"Aye. That's it," Jin nodded. "All they wanna do is be infectin' other people. It's loike they're losin' all their marbles – POOM! – marbles flying every which way an' everyone's madder'n a cat wid its tail tied up!"

Everyone stared at the eccentric wind elf a moment before resuming conversation, all lost on just exactly what the demon had just said. Something about the disease being like rabies. Yuusuke scratched his head, looking dark and puzzled at once.

"So…these guys are running around, foaming at the mouth and clawing people up?" he said doubtfully. "Not real hard to spot. A quarantine shouldn't be too hard."

"Don't be daft, Urameshi! Course they're not actually foamin' at th' mouth!" Jin snapped, looking disgusted with his friend. "Touya managed to tell meh what all th' signs are bein' before…anyway. I know they dun foam."

"So what are the symptoms?" Veil asked, tonelessly as before. The dragon-demon grew impatient quite swiftly so answering quickly proved wise on Jin's part. The Wind Master turned his gaze to the ceiling and began counting them off finger-by-finger.

"Coughing, fever, hallucinations – mostly gobbledygook 'bout ravens, purple eyes, an' weird poetry an' junk. The raven stuff is th' real give away, so yu gotta bewatchin' that – then they go mad an' start killin' and infectin' people," he finished sadly. "Touya told meh t' kill 'im afore I left, but I promised I'd be findin' a cure."

Yuusuke cast Veil a subtle glance, hoping the draconic youkai recognized the similarities between this disease and the one they'd dealt with among their own troops. But, to the Toushin's horror, his non-socially skilled General had assumed his most heartless 'why should I give a freaking French-fry?' expression and opened his mouth, cueing something horrible to come up from the depths of that acid-laced maw.

"That was stupid," Veil spat callously and Yusuke flinched, twitching visibly.

Jin's head snapped around and his near-luminous eyes flared with a momentary fury uncharacteristic of his personality. Uncharacteristic and dangerous. Keiko sucked a breath through her teeth at the expression but before anyone could stop him Veil stomped on through the emotional mine-field Jin's slight tweak of the eyes gave him away as.

"If you really respected your ally, you would have done as he asked," the dragon demon went on, tripping several bomb-wires as he did and detonating something horrendous in the Wind Master's expression. "Now he'll be infecting hell knows how many others."

What happened next, the horrible and destructive thing Yuusuke had foreseen arriving in Veil's face, surprised no one (not even Veil himself). Jin's fist, wreathed in a spiral of wind and tornado, smashed into Veil's right cheek and rocketed the dark-skinned youkai through the air like a rag doll. The air roared and his flight crashed to stop against a thick marble pillar that buckled and shattered under the impact. The air resounded with the crack of body on stone and the entire column gave way to smashed down upon the ground.

"SHUT TH' HELL UP YU' SLIMY BASTARD! YU' DIDN' KNOW TOUYA AN' YU GOT NO RIGHT T' SAY ANYTHIN'!" Jin screamed. Keiko yelped and clamped hands over sensitive ears as Yuusuke grabbed her and Botan in an attempt to keep them anchored to the floor.

Jin's warped voice clashed with the sound of shrieking winds and roaring air currents. Outside the clouds of the dark Makai atmosphere whipped into a thin red haze and tempest wind erupted into life. Trees ripped up by the roots and launched themselves into the air, sucked up into the awning maw of a birthing cyclone. Border-troops all about Yuusuke's terrortory gaped in horror and fascination at the phenomenon of Makai weather and animal demons fled into the underground. Back in the room, Jin's body clenched taunt with anger, every cord of muscle in his frame rigid, hair fluttering frantically in the storm of air around him. A strange, translucent energy boiled behind his eyes, colorless like mists of deadly poison in a twister.

"SO _SHUT **UP**_" he blurted in conclusion.

Jin gasped sharply and suddenly the wind stopped and he dropped to the floor with a thud. Keiko and Botan (hair sticking up at odd angles) stared at the wind demon with round eyes, clutching each other as of he would lunge at them and eat them both whole. Yusuke (hair equally fizzed) gaped at the giant pile of rubble where Veil had stood a few seconds ago.

"YAAAAAY! You killed him!" Minna cheered on her adopted guardian and began to dance exuberantly in Botan's arms.

"He did no such thing and don't you think that was a shade on the over-reaction side?" coughed a toneless, growling voice.

The rubble shifted and Yuusuke's General tossed aside a block of stone like one moves a feather mattress, casually knocking it off his shoulder and standing up. Dusty, ruffled and somewhat irritable (normal) he seemed otherwise unharmed and the non combatants all breathed a collective sigh of relief. The dragon demon shook out his wings with a snap of leathery membrane and folded them once more while dusting his tunic meticulously. He glared in the red-head's general direction.

Shocked silence followed in which Botan's mouth opened and closed much like a fish and Minna began to poke at Veil's ribs, irritating the dragon-demon until Keiko rescued the child from a soon-to-be nasty fate.

Jin coughed mildly into the dust filled atmosphere, breaking the taboo on sound.

"Whoops," he articulated flatly. No sympathy toward the General he'd just nailed through a stone pillar.

"Whoops? You just put a damn hole in my house!" Yuusuke said, finally finding his tongue.

"Th' jerk had it comin," Jin replied churlishly and dared the most venomous look any living creature had ever seen out of the wind demon. Usually happy-go-lucky eyes glittered dark and dangerous from his anger-lined face. His cobalt eyes darted back toward Veil who seemed unaware that he'd not only done something offensive but received punishment for it as well. Instead he'd resumed his usual bad posture and stood off to the side, hands fidgeting restlessly with the many glittering blades about his waist.

-Slouching, as per-typical, against the next undamaged pillar.

"Jin, what's wrong with you?" Yuusuke snapped. He grabbed his friend by the shoulder and regarded him with a somber expression not that often graced the Emperor's youthful features. "Veil can be an asshole, I know that. You all know that. We _all_ know that. Why are you letting him get to you? You know you did the right thing. None of us hold that against you, Jin."

"Aye!" snapped the wind demon, obviously having not forgiven anything or come to regret his choice in blasting another living being thought a rock column. He folded his arms in a 'don't you dare talk to me' fashion and spun around, back turned to the other occupancy of the room who all stared in shock. "I did what I came t' do. I'm through. Thought cha might be wantin' to know since Touya's good as dead, thanks t'…"

Jin stopped his next words as if realizing a line to dangerous to cross and shook himself.

"I'll be thinkin' somewhere else," he finished and bounded into the air. A breath of wind later he'd gone, leaving a stunned Yuusuke behind in a haze of confusion and empathy toward his comrade. Empathy…but no solution. Touya no longer fell under the safety of a comrade. He'd contracted the disease, a deadly one that Yuusuke had come to suspect as the very same plague that beleaguered his own troops and those of Yomi.

Yuusuke shot Veil a dark look. "Nice going, Mr. Sensitivity."

The dragon demon ignored the jibe and looked up sharply, golden yellow eyes pinning Botan suddenly with his intensity. She stiffened nervously under his scrutiny and giggled slightly. Minna wriggled out of Keiko's arm and skipped over to tug on the ferry-girl's gown, anxious to be picked up. The bluette obliged, happy for a distraction, but the ebon-skinned demon went on to capture her attentions.

"Botan. Why are you here? Koenma sent no word of your arrival," he growled, straight to the point.

The Grim Reaper looked flustered a moment by Veil's cobra's like stare and Yuusuke shoved the slighter demon with a gruff 'Stop it, you're scaring her.' He leered and looked away, having done his part to stir the pot and leave the ruling parties, Yuusuke and Keiko, to sort out the rest. Botan bounced Minna a bit higher on her hip, biting her lower lip in sudden apprehension.

"He…told me he'd sent you word…Did the courier get to you?" she inquired slowly. Heads shook in reply and the ferry-girl paled. "Then Enma knows where I am and he must have spoken to Koenma by now. Oh no."

Keiko hugged her friend gently. "I'm sure Koenma will be fine. He's a big boy. You, however, look ready to faint. What's going on?"

She looked up at them, eyes shining a wet, raspberry color. "Koenma told me his father was planning something. Something big. He'd been hunting Kurama for sometime now and suddenly this disease pops up – and I've heard the gossip – appears in all the high population, free-rule, demon zones. You don't hear it because of all the fighting around your land, Yuusuke, but the Makai's been sinking into chaos out there."

Keiko breathed slowly and softly. "You think…he's infected the Makai?"

"Genocide," remarked Veil from the shadows he'd found to stand in. "From what the Wind Master told us it seems that Karasu is the original host for the sickness. He's been spreading like a virus all around us, through us, even. Infecting our own troops and amassing an army. Kumuro's attacks on us might not be coincidence. I suspect his kingdom had become a bio-hazard, breeding ground or he's in league with Enma."

"And he's infecting us," Yuusuke said darkly. "Biological warfare. And we were laughing about it."

"There recently…was a soul unaccounted for in the records, but the paperwork was handed directly to Enma himself. I never touched the detail report," Botan said, as if pieces haunting her these last years now fell into place. "_He_ must have brought Karasu back! Enma was plotting all those years ago. Even before he knew Yuusuke was a Toushin, _Enma_ brought Karasu back, not a mage!"

"When it rains it pours," groaned Yuusuke and he fell into a nearby chair to think this one out.

Just as suddenly as he dropped his head in his hands a messenger sprite dashed through the doors, banging them open with wild-eyes abandon. Everyone stared as the slender youkai caught his breath before going on.

"Y-Yomi. We've lost contact with Yomi and Kumuro's troops had thripples assaults on the western flanks! We're under attack" He panted a moment, then bowed to the stunned Toushin.

"My lord."

* * *

**Ch**-_CHING!_

The motion came and went so quickly neither Alaster or Shizuru saw it, only heard the grinding, grating screech of metal against metal. Wind exploded from the point of impact like a miniature nuclear shockwave it blasted out and smashed its windy mass against the two spectators. Alaster spun, throwing his arms up to shield himself as ribbons of blue and silver hair whipped his face, forcing his shoulder into the brunt of the explosion. Shizuru, on the other hand, had no troublesome tresses of appropriate length to trouble her and remained still, tawny eyes fixed upon the tableau before her.

Hiei's signature katana, brilliant and glittering with undimmed light like an arched silver of moonlight, cut a swathe of startling light through the shadow. The Jaganshi himself hung, superimposed mid-air, the energy of his own attack holding him momentarily aloft as his opponent similarly fought to remain in the same speed range. The aforementioned opponent stood, feet planted apart in an iron foundation as the entire length of his lissome body vibrated with the sheer power grinding against his own weapon.

Feral crimson eyes, slanted and cat-like in Hiei's thin features, flickered along the serrated edge of the newly manifested blade. The metal, it if could be called metal, gleamed a dull gray-black against the polish perfection of Hiei's prize weapon. Cloud's fingerless black gloves gripped the hilt of the weapon tightly, the feather-like edges of the sword like a trembling horizon across his face, Hiei's own blade turning the interlocked weapons into a deadly metal X.

Cloud's soft blond bangs flipped erratically across his forehead, threatening to fall into his face as he bared delicate fangs in a grimace of both strain and sudden ire. Locked in a momentary stand-still he and Hiei seemed like lightening embodied, ready to erupt and zag off in any given direction, poised to loose something primal.

"A step in the right direction, but not enough, dark angel!" Hiei hissed.

_Shiiiing_!

A metallic crescendo as Hiei's blade ran down the edge of the other blade like a mallet over a xylophone and zinged of the end, sending both blades spinning away from each other as their owners bounced back from the initial attack. Moving in synchronous rhythm, both the combatants fell to the ground in a crouch and flickered as they dashed out of human perception. All the while Shizuru and Alaster screamed at the two fighters; Shizuru at Hiei, demanding he stop, Alaster at Cloud, pleading with him to see reason. To the mortal eyes the battle consisted of several sudden metallic flashes, sporadic eruptions of cobblestones and the occasional breath of unexplained wind. The two non-combatants seemed to yell at empty air.

To Shizuru and Alaster however, the battle looked like a scene shot through fast-forward and occasionally into still shots as the two hyper-speed demons danced around one another, blades raised, lissome and fluid like liquid lightening they attacked. Parries spat sparks for an instant before the two sprang apart again. Guerrilla tactics of hit and run triple times what it should naturally be. Hiei leapt high, slashed vertically in a stabbing slice so powerful it parted the air with an audible whine.

Cloud saw it coming though and with a move so agile it looked unreal he fell on the ground and somehow swung his entire body around balanced on one arm so that the blade sank into the stone alongside his wrist while his boot crashed into Hiei's chest. The blow pounded into the Jaganshi's chest with enough power to make the very air shake and launched the diminutive combatant across the street and through a brick wall.

A breath, a moment of silence came in the beat of a heart and from the rubble a familiar spiky-haired head lifted and a vicious smile.

Too fast to follow Hiei snapped out of view and reappeared suddenly, practically sitting on Cloud's chest. The dark angel's crimson eyes flew wide and the other demon's similarly hued gaze slitted dangerously. Predatorily. Black and red energy exploded from Hiei's bandaged fingers and in a terrifying snapshot, engulfed the shadowkai in a roiling cloud of fire and ravaging energy. The air rippled, vibrations shuddering through the floor like a miniature earthquake.

Dust choked the air and Shizuru, blinded and shocked, thrust a hand forward in a small wash of telekinetic power, clearing out the air in a single gesture. The haze of dust split like the Red Sea before Moses and blew up and out of the street, unveiling the result of the terrifying – however short – battle. Alaster made an astonished sound behind her and Shizuru glared at him, silencing the young youkai whose ears flipped back flat against his head.

Shizuru turned back to the charred crater eaten out of the cobblestone and dashed out to the focal point of impact. Laying, smoking slowly, fringes of his jacket smoldering Cloud sprawled death-still in the bottom of the indentation, back against the rubble, limbs laying at odd angles. His slender arms, the sleeves burned clear off, had somehow fallen one across his still chest, the other over his head. The tattered jacket splayed beneath his frame like burned blood and between his ash-stained fingers…a single charred feather balanced precariously in his limp hold.

Shizuru skidded to stop at the edge of the crater and stared down at his inert figure, with a strange churning feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Hiei crouched like some dark raptor atop a strangely placed gargoyle along side the road. A slithering of black stripping caught the attention of the two. The headband about his forehead had come undone, whether intentionally or by flaw the black ribbon slid like gravity drawn smoke to the coil on the stone. Hiei lifted a calloused and bandaged right arm to finger the multiple loops of leather about his neck, as if in thought. His twin ruby orbs were closed, but a glitter of lavender light from the centre of his forehead glowed ominously as his demonic third eye slit open and yawned wide.

"Not bad, dark angel. But you'll have to step it up a notch if you want to play war-game with me," Hiei said, voice rough and feral.

"Hiei!" Shizuru shouted. The Jaganshi opened his real eyes and regarded her with boredom. "What's your damage? You just killed one of my godsdamned teammates! What the ,"

"Oh shuttup, Shizuru! The dark angel is just fine," Hiei spat, cutting her off.

"He's not even breathing!" Shizuru bit back.

"He will in a moment. Just give his survival reflexes a second to kick in. If he couldn't handle that, then I wouldn't have allowed him to live."

Shizuru made an aggravated noise and turned her twitching gaze back on Cloud's very corpse-like body. Hiei waited patiently, expectantly. Alaster, looking shaken indeed, trotted around the perimeter of the monstrous pot-hole and joined them. Cloud still hadn't moved from his death pose and Alaster arched a brow at Shizuru and Hiei, who seemed more or less unconcerned.

"I suppose you know why we're here," Shizuru said, eyeing Hiei's luminous third eye.

The Jaganshi smirked. "Of course I do. You need to find a cure for this disease and for that you need Kurama and to get Kurama you think you need me. That's the gist isn't it?"

"We don't need you?" Shizuru said, arching a brow.

"Of course you do, but not to find Kurama. The fox will be arriving in the Makai shortly I'm sure. But it's not a cure we need, it's a vaccine," Hiei replied. Battle on pause, the fire-demon seemed to have lost all interest in his violent and blood-thirsty personification, abandoning it in favor of his former drab and to the point social relations.

He glanced at Shizuru.

"We need someone to kill Karasu," he explained grimly. "Since that was your original plan anyhow, that's where you and your little bunch come in."

"The disease will be alleviated?" Alaster asked sharply.

Hiei stared at the youko a long moment as if seeing something else altogether. "Yoko will take care of it, as will Yuusuke and the others. But your role in this is simply this: Kill Karasu. Nothing else. He is the original host, that much is known on our side. However, things have become more complicated since yesterday. Enma's caught wind of your activity. I can't tell you how."

"Touya," Alaster said with a slight edge of aggravation Thinking back to their last encounter the shinobi certainly erased himself from his Christmas list this year. Demonic disease or not the fact Touya even had a personality like that suppressed within him was disturbing. "Only make sense, he's only out to make mischief and stir trouble now that he's infected. Far as I'm concerned, he's a wild on both sides."

"Possibly, the ice demon might have some resistance yet in him. Shinobi meditation is a powerful thing I've heard."

"You seemed well informed of all this for a wanted murderer on the run," Shizuru said crossly. That fact Hiei even _pretended_ to know more about the ninja bugged the living day-lights out of her. Standing with her knife out, ready to kill Touya had shaken her and hearing that he might actually have had a spark of himself left inside didn't make her feel like Pal of the Year.

In response, Hiei shot her a glare to strip flesh from eye-lids, then after a pause he spoke, slowly and carefully. "You look for trouble. You shoot for scars…brutal, nasty, a hard-ass and a war-bitch. Tell me Shizuru…did it hurt more to hear Cloud hadn't killed Karasu like he promised or that your brother was killed because of it?"

An ugly, heavy beat of silence.

"Stop this, both of you!" Alaster snarled, baring canine fangs at the two. "We have no time for petty disagreements. Hiei, you said things were more complicated. How?"

"As you know, I trained for a time under Mukuro and aided her in the ruling of her territory," began Hiei.

He hopped off the top of the gargoyle and sheathed the katana he hadn't bothered to put away before. Shizuru and Alaster looked at one another with stares of interest, if not trepidation, of the Jaganshi's words. Despite years apart from the team Urameshi they still remained confident in the fire-demon's loyalty to their side or at least to his former teammates enough to aid them in their quest. The taciturn demon flicked his wrist and the weightless length of his headband swam up through the air into his hand. After the display of minor telekinesis, he wrapped it swiftly about his forehead in a practiced gesture.

"In her court, she required that I train with her three most skilled accomplices," he said while knotting the cloth behind his neck. "Her personal assassins, though she never called them so. Shield, Blade and Marionette. She told me once I could defeat each one of them she would give me rule of half her kingdom…and eventually take the burden from her completely."

Alaster started. "You were her heir?"

Hiei looked irate at the interruption. "Yes. It matters little now that I have been exiled. Does it not?"

Alaster had the grace to look apologetic and Hiei cleared his throat and went on.

"Mukuro was assassinated by Enma. Therefore, I'm guilty and to be put to death because no jury in all Spirit World will see me innocent." The venom in Hiei's words hit deeply with his audience, all of whom had just heard a bombshell of an allegation. But the fire-demon as usual, didn't bother to let them absorb the information and continued. "The throne was claimed my Kumuro, a puppet and a pawn set by Enma so that the King of Spirit world would have control of her kingdom and most importantly…her army."

"There's more than one Emperor of the Makai and Mukuro isn't even considered the most powerful of the Emperors," came Shizuru's rebuttal. "Why take her kingdom for its army if it can be defeated?"

"It's never been about strength. It's about infection," Hiei explained, exotic ruby orbs lit with grim humor. "Mukuro's army was the only one set directly between the kingdoms belonging to Yomi and Yuusuke; perfectly positioned to expose the other two territories while the original host spreads it to the rest of the Makai. Karasu infects them and then influences them."

"Sounds familiar…" Shizuru muttered.

"Hey! Cloud's waking up!" Alaster announced suddenly, drawing the attentions of the two back to the fallen immortal.

Sure enough, not fifteen seconds later Cloud jerked violently, spasmed and flung himself up off the pavement with a sucking gasp, jack-knifing into a sitting position. His eyes flung about frantically in search of an unseen aggressor – or the seen aggressor sitting on the gargoyle a couple yards off with sword and spiky hair – his entire body convulsing in jittery waves. He spotted Shizuru seated calmly at the edge of the crater, Hiei behind her and shivered anyway. Then he went into yet another spasm and clutched his…shoulders? The shadowkai hugged himself tightly as quivery shudders ran up and down his frame.

Dark light, like a mist of ebony seemed to boil and bubble from the back of his shoulders. He gasped and clutched his arms in a white-knuckled hold, face contorted, as if fighting to hold back something struggling to claw free of his skin. Power washed over then in a wave so thick, Alaster could actually smell it.

Shizuru, too fast to follow whipped her hand back to the hilt of her weapon. Alaster spotted her motion and thinking her intent to kill, shouted for her to stop. Instead the girl yanked a slip of white paper from the back of her belt and holding tightly between two glowing fingers, filled the parchment with energy then let it fly. It blazed a trail of white light from her finger-tips to her target, while it struck Cloud squarely in the chest, knocking him on his back again.

The darkness burst into nothing, dissipating into thin air as Cloud groaned and rolled to his hands and knees, back to the others. His hand trailed to his chest, fingers playing over the charmed ward she'd stuck to the front of his body. It stopped his energy before he'd lost control.

Shizuru laughed in harsh disbelief.

"You stupid hell-spawned _prick_," she spat in an acidic tone. Cloud, shivering like a child in a snow-storm, glared up at her, but she went on, kicking a rock down into the pit with him as she did. "You worthless, gutless moron. You're holding your powers in aren't you? You're trying to stop your powers from manifesting so you can stay in control."

The immortal shoved himself to his feet and glared up at her. "I'm in control."

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Those guns may take care of weak demons, but I can dodge your bullets and without your darkness techniques you're simply not fast enough to compete with me. You're holding back your powers for some personal issue I really don't care about. Point is, if you keep doing it, you will die."

"Apparently, we're under attack," Shizuru drawled lazily. "Hiei was explaining while you were sawing logs down there."

Cloud for a moment seemed preoccupied with hiking out of the crater he stood in but then he slitted dangerous red eyes at her. Alaster caught a whiff of something strange, an almost musky scent and wrinkled his nose. He noticed the back of Cloud's jacket seemed to ripple as if blown by some nonexistent wind.

"Umm…yes. What do you know about the ones coming after us?" he asked Hiei.

The Jaganshi bared fangs in that violent and treacherous grin. "Mukuro's three assassins. They were deployed last night to hunt you down. Karasu caught wind of what Touya told you and now they think they can get the drop on you," Hiei replied with an amused kind of look in his eyes. "That's why I attacked you. I had to see if you were strong enough to defeat the assassins…and if what you just gave was your best then you're all dead."

"Comforting Hiei," spat Shizuru.

"Don't worry I have more strength," Cloud said, folding his naked arms across his chest. His gaze flickered momentarily as if he regretting admitting that. "So these assassins…what can they do?"

Hiei, following Cloud, folded his arms across his chest. "Shield and Blade are fraternal twins, trained by elite shinobi since they were born. However, there was simply too much to learn and train into a single individual and the ninjas decided to make them the ultimate fighting team. Shield specializes in defensive technique and energies. Blade in offensive and battle strategy. Marionette…"

The Jaganshi paused.

"I have yet to face Marionette. The only thing I can tell you is he wasn't trained; he was build by as a protector."

Alaster blinked. "Built?"

"Muroku wasn't always as strong as she is now and as an escaped slave powerful demons were always hunting her," he said hopping from the shoulders of the gargoyle. "Marionette is a guardian. Made from a type of living machinery but an order is his will and if Enma is controlling Marionette and has him protecting the host…"

"Then I'll just have to break the guardian," Cloud said suddenly.

Cloud lifted his arm and casually flipped it outward. On cue, a swath of ebony tendrils poured from his back, washed up across his shoulders and coiled down his limbs. Alaster, startled, leapt back from the shadowkai as the inky shapes fluttered and weaved about his upper back like extensions of his body. As his power fluctuated that strange mixture of musk and metallic aroma. Hiei's dark eyes flickered with interest as he eyed the dark angel.

Shizuru sucked a breath. A strange ripping sound like the tear of Velcro and cloth filled the air and twin arcs of black feathers burst from the immortal's shoulder blades. The dim lights of the streets faded into a deeper darkness than even that already present and in the shadows two crimson eyes lit like softly luminous gate of Hades. A presence, like a breath of death whispered down the empty lane and the heavy black angels wings newly formed, flexed and spread out in a quick rustle of feathers.

The blonde planted his hands on his hips in a most uninterested manner as he cast his gaze about his speechless company. He looked to Hiei.

"The shadows have been fighting to get out for sometime now," he growled. "Is that good enough?"

Hiei made a noise akin to 'alrighty then' and turned his back to the three. "That should help, but all of you will have to pitch in if you want to survive Muroku's Three. Head for Yuusuke'a territory. There is a battle amassing there. Shield, Blade and Marionette will most likely try to stop you on the way there. So watch yourselves."

Shizuru watched the Jaganshi's back a moment. "You won't come with us? I thought…of all people you would…"

"It's pointless. It will not bring her back and vengeance…" He stopped, thinking. "I've already had mine. I only ask that you give the Toushin my regards and tell the damned fox to stop robbing Enma. It's growing old."

"Umm…before you go," Shizuru called. The darkly clad fighter turned a somber look on her, impatient. "Can I ask you whatever happened to that Akira faerie? Did you take over her Guild?"

A long silence…then Hiei grinned that strange brutal grin to chill blood in arteries.

"No. I started one of my own and she works under me now. Get lost, Shizuru."

Then he was gone, just like a flicker of shadow and a candle flame he vanished and left them standing alone on that dark street. Cloud cast Shizuru a long, monstrous stare, his glowing eyes like rubies of crystallized blood and fire. Alaster's tail fluffed in nervous reaction to the vicinity of such a creature and the demon-huntress ran her fingers along the hilt of her long blade. She knew they had little time left to waste; they had to get to Yuusuke's kingdom before everything came down around them.

She ran her fingers through her haphazard locks and moved back the way they'd come. She paused only to glare at Cloud who hadn't stopped staring at her for the last couple minutes, his garnet eyes wide and freakish in the dark. In them she felt the thoughts flashing and leaping out at her from the depth of his mind, running behind his eyes. For an instant she thought about blocking his mental feedback, but then decided to listen in.

He stared, she listened, she heard:

_Are you happy, Shizuru? I'm the monster you see me as in flesh. Are you happy now?_

"Put your damn shades on, angel-boy. I don't want those eyes on me." Her voice came out harsh and bitter. "C'mon guys, we have a long way to go."

_**

* * *

Out the back way…

* * *

**_

**Author's Note: **Just wanted to add a little note here. This fic is a continuation of another fic called NIGHTMARES OLD OATHS. This is not the continuation of Ice Dreams of Fire. Someone got those a bit mixed up. None of that now. I haven't even started a sequel to Ice Dreams yet so hang on. Until then I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It had a couple moments I liked, but over all I think my last chapter was far better. Hope you had a good read anyway. Later!


	10. Defensive Manuvers

**Disclaimer: **For all you people who forgot in the unforgivably long absence: I still own nothing, y' little buggers.

**Story Thus Far: **Goodness! Karasu is the host of the terrible sickness and Yuusuke's kingdom is under attack by Kumuro's diseased forces. Hiei informed our dysfunctional trio of anti-heroes that they have three assassins on their tail and Kurama continues to be held up in the Ningenkai. Lions and tigers and demonic warfare! Oh my!

Enjoy chapter 10!

**Defensive Maneuvers**

**_Thra_**-_ach!_

The disgusting, wet, and generally nasty sound of flesh losing its original health to physical violence. In Mika terms: Kurama just laid one to baddie-bitch! The girl whooped, but quickly abandoned her post as cheerleader on account of several long slithering tentacles crashing into the walled two feet from her face. Stucco blew up in her face, choking her and coating her damp skin – still wet from the shower – in dusty white.

Terrasuka's maddening shrieks of agony and frustration tormented the human eardrum, but to Mika there was no more lovely a sound than the pain-racked screams of a sadistic she-monster getting hers. The teenager blasted the offending limb with a short burst of blue energy, disintegrating the thrashing red tendril.

In the middle of the hall, Terrasuka shrieked again, a terrible gurgling wail of a noise that rippled offensively through the air, raping the ears with its disgusting resonance. The human parts of the demoness's mutilated body writhed and twisted in mortal agony. The slender human body, clad in dark satin and wreathed in a long-armed crown of squirming tentacles, arched and bent backwards. Elegantly manicured nails, clawed at the air in primal desperation as her attacker overwhelmed her.

Her face – if that oozing, throbbing mass of raw flesh, fangs and countless, bloody feelers could be called a face – yawned and bubbled sickly, glistening fluids welling up from the back of her throat. Kurama, during all this, had retreated to a safe distance, his organic grass weapon dripping with scarlet liquid. His wide, slanted eyes, usually soft and pleasantly distant in their wisdom had hardened and even darkened to an intense shade of predatory instinct.

He wanted something dead…now!

He landed on the opposite side of Terrasuka, having completed his initial attack seconds after the youkai's transformation. The ugly, oozing wound pumping fountains of dark blood from her breast seemed fatal and probably would have been if the opponent had been born into any other family of evil demons besides Karasu's. Unlike her brother, Terrasuka would not be killed by either blow to the heart or loss of blood either individually or simultaneously.

The fox-spirit narrowed green eyes as the woman swiveled around to 'face' him, the majority of her long, lashing tendrils waving about in his direction. The deceptively young looking combatant leapt back, long legs, coiling and propelling his lissome body back in a long, weightless leap that landed him comfortably in a four-way intersection of the hall. He fell into a crouch, shoulders loose, body hunched over in a premeditating pounce.

Terrasuka hissed wetly and the hall erupted into a writhing forest of flesh-hungry feelers.

Kurama did everything in one fell move. Smoother than humanly possible and more gracefully than most high-class youkai, the master thief leapt up spinning. His arms shot up and released his grass blade, flinging it with enough speed to make a whining hiss as it ripped through the air. Terrasuka 'hoomf'ed in surprise as the blade rammed through her belly and burst out her back, but miraculously remained on her feet. Mika saw Kurama's fingers fly open and he released something else, freeing the tightly held mound of blood-red petals concealed covertly within his quick hands. His motion sent them whirling in a deadly flurry of razor-edged flora, swirling around the red-head like a protective shroud.

Terrasuka moaned like a woman deprived of love and wounded by fate, if not by physical injury. Voracious in her blood-lust, she sacrificed several of her tentacles in vain attempts to reach the fox-demon through the storm of rose-petals. Each limb was sliced off like a butcher's knife sailing through the raw meat, spraying blood and falling in a twisting coil on the hotel carpet.

"You cannot beat me," Kurama said soberly, voice low and dangerously husky, the way it got when youko power swam more strongly through his blood-stream. "I'm far stronger and more experienced. Karasu was obviously the stronger of you two. Why put yourself through the pain?"

The creature's ring of fangs expanded in what former fox-thief deciphered as a smile and returned it with a glare, the stripes of green and gold within his gaze growing dark and dangerous. Terrasuka warbled her laughter and slithered and stumbled her way toward her prey. Kurama's body posture grew agitated by the female's aggression and he raked his fingers through his shorn hair, an old gesture turned warning that he now armed himself.

Between his slim fingers, she could just make out the tiny bead of green plant-life.

"I gave you your warning," Kurama said tonelessly. He lifted his arm cross his chest, lifting it high in post-striking position. His eyes narrowed. "Now die."

His arm lashed out and the crack of hyper plant growth and the snap like a whip lanced the air. Terrasuka wailed as thorny vines erupted about her body in the likeness of a flesh-hungry serpent. It wrapped her body in a perverted embrace, ripping flesh and tearing through delicate satin fabrics. Another whip cracked and suddenly Kurama was vaulting over his victim, calm as a chess master placing the king in check. The all-surface slicing length of his weapon had lodged itself firmly within the throat of his enemy, wrapping the neck in a bloody noose.

Kurama yanked, ripping the wound plant like a string wrapped round the neck of spinning top. Terrasuka bubbled wetly, blood spraying as the gross rip of flesh signaled the Rose Whip tearing out of his opponent's throat. Like a broken top, she spun briefly, moaned, then staggered. Red oozed down her slender neck in dark rivulets, dripping in thick pools and soaking the carpet. Glistening rivers oozed down her breast, soaking her gown through.

The fox turned sharply to face his opponent and Mika saw the open perplexity in his face as he stepped away. Terrasuka, still alive somehow, gargled and dripped while stumbling toward him, body swaying and bobbing drunkenly. Slender, crimson smeared fingers reached for the fox demon, pawing the air in search of the youko's well worn dress-shirt.

"Mika, get back," Kurama ordered sharply, eyes glittering with a powerful focus. He flicked his whip back with a sharp wrist motion and the impossibly long weapon snapped to life, striking with snake-like speed and action, it bit deeply into Terrasuka's abdomen, ripping through her and painting the walls with red spray. The disgusting mass of flesh where her face had once resided jiggled and bounced as the demon laughed grossly. Kurama snapped his whip across the mass, but the residual ruin of his last attack bled sluggishly and ineffectively.

"I'm more," wheezed Karasu's kin, "than I seem, fox."

"So I gathered," Kurama articulated coolly and immediately whipped his wrist in a sharp elbow to finger sweep that neatly separated Terrasuka's arms from her well-sculpted body. Dark blood splattered and pooled like a thick sludge on the once spotless carpets and Mika wrinkled her nose at the acrid stench of it. Terrasuka's writhing featureless head suddenly retracted in upon itself, like a recoiling animal back into its shell as smooth, alabaster flesh slid back into place over the nightmarish blob.

After a stomach churning moments of facial reconstruction, Terrasuka's lovely doll-like face stared calmly back at them, unperturbed it seemed, by her loss of both arms. Kurama frowned slightly, his brow creasing slightly in thought. He obviously suspected something afoot and the evil little smile upon the woman's lips rubbed proverbial fur the wrong way.

"Kurama. Why do you welcome me so rudely?" asked the beauty softly, voice melodic and mesmerizing. "Am I not a friend? You and Karasu seemed so very close in all his words about you."

The fox-demon with shorn hair of fire-red refused to be roused. He lifted his whip arm instead, slender fingers gripping the thicker stem handle firmly. Eyes colored with gold-flecked emerald grew cold at the mention of his former nemesis. Kurama didn't bother to answer, frustrated by this creature's determination in warding off a fatal blow. Kurama had technically taken out about seven major organs and severed three arteries. Demonic tolerance aside, the monstrosity should have showed some signs of injury.

"Is she self-healing?" Mika hissed from her vantage directly behind Kurama and not back where he'd told her to go.

The fox glared. "I don't know, but you need to get back, Mika."

A hiss. Mika screamed and Kurama tackled her out of the way as a swarm of darting tendrils buried six inches into the plush beside them. The two rolled apart on instinct and only barely evaded the second wave of needle sharp limbs. Kurama righted himself and caught his breath as he flung himself backward; arching over and yanking his legs up after him in a dexterous back flip, dodging the errant stabs directed toward his person. He danced betwixt the waving mass of thrashing limbs to regain sight of his opponent, but Mika beat him there.

"Hey, fox-boy! She's gone Resident Evil on us and sprouted a buncha really nasty lookin' arm things!" she roared over the incessant hissing of Terrasuka's newly grown limbs.

Kurama sliced down a slue of slithering tendrils and darted through the gap in time to spot Terrasuka. Smiling peacefully, a bunch of tentacles writhing and sprouting from the gory sockets where her arms had once taken up residence, she grinning at her two revolted opponents. Dust and mortar blew up around them in dense clouds as the demon's whip-like arms sliced through the stucco wall, shattering windows and shredding the rich lavender curtains. Three feelers jabbed simultaneously at the youko, forcing him back.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

He couldn't dodge them all like this. From all angles they came, hissing past like angry hornets, brushing his arms, legs and face as he slid past would-be lethal attacks. Damn! She was _fast_! Gritting his teeth to prevent himself from biting his tongue should he be struck, the young man darted away from another wave of wild stabs; moving so quickly it seemed his body fluttered in and out of perception. He slashed, slashed and sliced the oncoming limbs, littering the floor in bloody cords of flesh, but no matter how fast, how strategically he anticipated and destroyed them, more zipped in to replace them.

"Kurama!" shrieked Mika, seeing his assault grow more and more furious, faster and faster and more blood-thirsty. She incinerated several tentacles and managed to scramble past a stray arm lodged through a suite door to her left. Hand glowing with a translucent blue energy, the girl dashed toward her guardian deciding which group of arms to burn first…

"Gotcha little girl!" cried Terrasuka gleefully.

Mika cursed like a true Urameshi as a slender feeler slithered lightening fast about her waist and hoisted her air born. Mika immediately blasted the offending arm, only to be slapped by another tentacle, like a fly from the air, as she fell. Kurama shouted her name as he watched Yuusuke's daughter plummet to the floor in a boneless heap, aura flickering and fading about her petite form.

"Mika!"

"Don't worry, dear Yoko-kun. I'll take excellent care of Urameshi-chan's little girl," giggled Terrasuka, eyes growing wide, and rolling crazily in her too perfect face. "But first…"

His eyes widened at the sight or Terrasuka's smile and the walls groaned suddenly. Seven feelers licked out to snap up fluffs of the carpet, having missed their red-haired target who was forced to leap back into a wall. Shoulder blades slamming against the scarred stucco as he rolled away from the follow through, Kurama destroyed every single attacking arm before it made contact and the squirming limbs fell about him like vines against a weed-eater.

Sweat ran a single bead down his flushed alabaster skin dripping from the gentle slope of his chin as he narrowed dark green and moon-streaked eyes at her. Judging from the slow, tense manner with which he wiped perspiration from his upper lip, he didn't appreciate Mika's injury.

"Oh please, Kurama," laughed the woman.

Suddenly the walls about him exploded and the fox felt himself get engulfed by a mass of wet, writhing tentacles that burst from their hidden lodging inside the wall. The ropy, things wrapped his wrists, legs, waist and throat in a paralyzing chokehold. His whip burst back into its original form, a non-petaled rose flopping to the floor as its owner struggled ineffectively against his attacker. Terrasuka's deceptively soft lavender eyes grew amethyst cold as she seemed to glide across the carpeting toward her new captive.

Kurama bared delicately tapered fangs at the female and instantly redoubled his efforts, lean muscle and sinew bunching and coiling as he struggled to pull his arms free. She only smiled pityingly and stroked her victim's head, finger singers sliding through his hacked hair and smoothing it lovingly.

"Such a pity," she remarked. _That you have to die,_ remained silent, but hung in the air a wordless afterthought.

Terrasuka's dark, wine-hued lips began to split in that homicidal, grin of needle teeth as she leaned intimately closer to the King of Thieves. Her transformation paused briefly, her eyes flickering across Kurama's dark, entrancing features, hypnotic green-gold eyes momentarily captivating her with the ageless depth and intelligence. He saw her mind change from their original murderous intent to a most pleasurable temptation.

She reverted to her full human face, leaning her lips but a breath from Kurama's. "Good-bye Kurama-kun. This is the last kiss you'll ever know."

Her mouth leaned in for the touch, but Kurama's lips twitched up at the corners and his eyes flashed, stopping her. She paused, suspicious.

"I'll make you eat those words," Kurama replied and before she could change her mind, he caught her lips with his own…

…and bit her?

The woman yelped and leapt out of the contact, as ivory fangs pierced her lower lip, drawing blood. Lacking arms to properly wipe it away, she stepped slowly back, licking her lips clean and glaring furiously at the youko. Crimson blood spilled from her bitten lip, dribbling down her face unchecked. The gorgeous, but restrained spirit fox only smirked and licked his lower lip clean of her blood; an arousing gesture, if not so terrifying due to his most Yoko-like expression.

"I'm not Suiichi Minnamino and I'm not Yoko Kurama," hissed the fox.

Terrasuka gasped and hacked suddenly, arms she didn't have attempting to fly to her throat. Gentle tremors began at her belly, moved up like a slow tide through each muscle group and slowly over took her entire body. In moments Terrasuka was trembling and jerking like a marionette in the wind. Her eyes widened. Frothing foam bubbled up from her throat as the puncture wound about her lip swelled and turned an ugly purple. Her eyes grew wide and horrified as realization sank in before rolling listlessly back into her sockets. Her grip loosened and her feelers grew limp about the fox demon's wiry body. They fell away and she toppled over, clawing the air vainly and ripping the nearby curtains from their rungs. She tumbled face-first into the thick, soft, carpeting and laid still.

He smiled humorously and spat the poisonous yellow berry from his mouth, toxic juices having served their purpose. "I'm just Kurama and I've learned some new tricks."

The body continued to foam and gargle for several more minutes after the conclusion of their 'fight'. Kurama ignored it, however, rushing to Mika's side. She moaned and stirred very slightly in the youko's arms, but would not fully come about. Kurama thought a moment, then dug into his pocket and gingerly bloomed a seed into a potent-smelling flower beneath her nose. A moment…Her nostrils flared and the young woman jerked up with a loud, long, howl of disgust.

"OH LORDY THAT'S SICK! KURAMA YOU'RE SICK! OHH! NASTY!" she wailed, clutching at her nose as tears poured down her cheeks. "It's like…like…that's so nasty I'm lost for words."

Kurama returned the flower to a seed and delicately slipped it somewhere about his person. "Imagine having a sense of smell one thousand that of a human being," he remarked lightly, helping to her feet.

Mika wiped her face and peered over her guardian's shoulder. "How'd yu' win?"

Kurama shrugged. "A cornered fox bares its teeth. I bit her."

"I'm gonna pretend that was a metaphor," sniffled Mika. Kurama only smiled. "What's our next move?"

"Get to Yuusuke. Your father must have contracted trouble again. Why else would demons be tracking you specifically?" replied the fox-thief. "I suspect someone wants to keep at least one of us out of the Makai."

"Lovely. Should I go fetch my blouse? I just love family reunions under terrible danger."

"THERE WON'T BE A REUNION, BECAUSE YOU'RE BOTH GOING TO DIE!" shrieked a familiar, if not horrible wet and choked voice. A plume of crackling energy filled the hall behind the two and a mist of oily black fumes boiled along the floor.

Mika glared at Kurama. "I thought we killed this bitch?"

Kurama slipped his hands in his pockets and looked pensive. "_We_?"

Terrasuka, having been dealt the death-blow one too many times had seemingly given up all sense of sanity in exchange for a second chance at killing Yoko Kurama and Mika Urameshi. Her skin suddenly erupted in what Mika thought to be the worst case of acne she'd ever seen. Angry blisters opened up on her smooth flesh, before her pores began to seep black oil-like fluid which encased her whole body in glistening slime. Her eyes remained the same insane violet-purple.

"I'MTHREATENINGYOUOVERHEREYOUFOOLS!" she screamed, throwing a regular hissy-fit of ghastly horror.

Kurama narrowed his eyes at the annoyingly resilient creature. "So I noticed."

"DIE!" she shrieked and a forest of vine-like appendages hurled themselves upon the kitsune. Mika gasped, but Kurama grabbed the girl and held her tightly against his side. Green-gold eyes glowing a soft yellow, he lifted one arm and gestured with it, thumb and forefinger extended in a silent command.

"Bloom," he said quietly.

Terrasuka's body obediently exploded in three places, spraying red gore and squirming tentacles in every direction. Vines – real vines – covered in long thorns and exotically colored flora burst from the holes. The plants grew and expanded under Kurama's power and wrapped the demoness in a cocoon of greenery. Her muffles shriekes cut off violently as the plants crushed her in their complex root-system and goring vines, feeding off her body.

The Death Seeds.

Mika and Kurama looked on in silence as the petals darkened to a deep crimson, soaking in the blood, draining the monster of the liquids. They kept growing darker, as if the supply would never end.

"She won't die the normal way," Kurama said as Mika gaped at the bloody mess. His expression remained cold and detached as he spoke. "She's nothing but a manifestation of energy and flesh. She has no vital points because he body isn't really alive or even breathing. It's just a shell endlessly mutating to serve her needs."

Mika gulped, feeling ill. "So…she's dead right?"

"She won't bother us again," Kurama said cryptically and gave his protégé a warm smile, hoping to calm her. Mika (who was not comforted by this) just felt a bit more ill than before. She knew Yoko could be ruthless but holy crap, he just freaking _smiled_ after a blood-bath like _that_.

"Umm…good?" Mika asked.

Kurama rolled his eyes. "Yuusuke's daughter," he sighed and moved quickly down the hall. "Come on, Mika. Botan's told me where every hole between the Makai and Ningenkai is located. There's one close by and active if those demons arrived so promptly. We can probably use it without wasting energy if we hurry."

Mika followed her guardian, still staring at the twitching mass of flesh, blood and greenery. The purple drapery, which she'd crashed into only moments earlier fluttered and danced in a cold, snowy draft, blood dripping from the fringes

"Uh-huh…" she babbled. "Just thinking…each sad…rustling…purple curtains…filled me thrilled me with fantastic terrors…"

"What are you talking about?" Kurama teased.

She shook it off and glared at him. "Nothing! Let's go!"

And they took off.

-i-n-f-e-c-t-i-o-n-

"Lord Yuusuke!"

"WHAT?" screamed the demon-boy in frustration.

"We have another attack. South side. Half of them are our own men," reported one of his messenger harpies, the eagle claws that formed her lower body dripping blood, her wings singed by battle fire. The demoness turned a face toward the south, watching the distant with her sharp raptor-eyes. She blinked and looked back to her lord. "I'm afraid our forces are being driven back even as I speak."

Yuusuke didn't have time to think on the losses or even to give her a command because as he opened his mouth to do so, Veil flew up the side of the turret wall and perched on the rubble beside him. His tunic jangled as he landed in a crouch beside the Toushin.

"We need a hit, Yuusuke! East side. I've cleared the men out!" he cried.

Yuusuke swung around, bracing his right wrist with his left hand. A bead of brilliant blue light so pure it gleamed white began to form at his finger tip. The bead swelled until it reached the size of a small base-ball and then erupted from the demon lord's hand like a missile. Yuusuke's feet skidded back a good foot and a half, the recoil shoving him backward as the signature blue spirit technique shot off into the distance. A black throng amassing in the distance vanished in a radiance of blue that exploded in a silent mushroom cloud of energy. A moment later the sonic boom reached the fortress and the residual shock wave threw dust into their faces.

His aim, after nearly a century, was dead on.

"Thanks," Veil said, saluting mockingly and taking off.

"My lord?" the harpy insisted urgently.

"Yeah, umm," Yuusuke said intelligently, clenching his hand against his forehead. Making a snap decision he gestured to an experienced youkai working the ground units at the far end of the ramparts. "That's captain Yukori. Take a C-class platoon from the Western division and try to hold the fort there. I'll come down there the moment they break through the fifth trenches. Alert me then. Got it?"

She nodded curtly. "Yes, lord," she replied and took off for the officer in question.

Yuusuke squinted into the distance, frustration evident on his face. He wanted to get down there and fight, but Veil argued that his joining the fray would only get them what they wanted. If one of them managed to infect the Toushin, then that would mark the end of everything they'd worked to hold for the last two hours. The your Emperor had resigned himself to the occasional nuking of larger enemy forces and the irregular hand to hand slaughter when his own forces found themselves driven dangerously far back by infected demons.

Speaking of whom…

The sky darkened as yet another wave of air-borne youkai plummeted through the skyways, breaking cloud-cover and plunging toward the yet-to-be penetrated fortress. Wyvrens, wyrms, goblins and winged monstrosities Yuusuke had never before seen dove individually toward his keep, all on a single, blood-thirsty mission of infection, murder and blood.

Yuusuke raised his hands, planting his feet wide and closing his glowing auburn eyes. The heat of battle and demonic adrenaline colored his irises a dangerous blood red as he used his powers. Blue light rippled around his figure and his long, dark hair shifted and fluttered like a halo of dark spikes around his shoulders. Dark tattoos grew dark in contrast to his leanly, muscled body.

Eyes, still shut, he pounded his fist into the other and thrust his arm into the sky, hissing his mantra.

"Sapphire Storm," he muttered, brow furrowing with the unfamiliar technique.

Blue particles began to glow in the skies over head, bright light blinked into existence all through the air, multiplying, doubling, filling up the air around the blood crazed youkai, who paused in wonder of the blue specks. One fiendishly ugly bat demon poked experimentally at a speck which caused a small explosion, setting off the one next to it, then the three beside that one, the ten next to those, the fifty after that and suddenly the entire sky exploded into a blue haze of chain reaction detonation.

He grinned evilly, having cleared the entire sky clear of all demonic entities.

"NEVERMORE!" came a shriek and in a flurry of flapping, moth-like wings, a female youkai leap from her hiding place beside the broken turrets, raising bloody claws to rake them across the young man's arms. He swung around to eradicate the assassin, but someone else got there first.

"Needle Storm!" a voice exclaimed.

He heard a whine and a hissing noise just as the offending demon collapsed, dead, to the ground at his feet. Yuusuke stepped away as blood began to spurt from the innumerable number of invisible wounds covering her body. The needle had pierced her body through a million times, lacerating every organ, every artery, bone and the brain. It was safe to assume the demon quite dead.

"Must be more careful husband of mine," teased a familiar voice.

Yuusuke turned, smiling as his wife leapt an incredible forty feet from a high balcony, landing beside him and smirking in a self-satisfied kind of way. He scowled and looked off in mock resentment.

"I had it covered," he huffed.

"Sure," Keiko cooed, patting him on the cheek. "I'll see you later. Ryu is having trouble on the right flank. I'm gonna go strengthen the line. Have fun. Kill demons." She blew him a kiss and sped away before he could protest her fighting. He groaned and shook his head, knowing that his had no right trying to keep her out of danger after all his years of blood and battle.

Keiko hated all this fighting, though she did her fair share and learned not to hesitate in the face of death, she would never reach the level of ruthlessness the Reikei Tantai had reached in their years together. Even divided as they were she suspected secretly that every one of them, with the exception of departed Kuwabara and perhaps Kurama, had only grown more lethal in their years of solitude.

Thunder rolled overhead as the battle intensified, multi-colored energy flashes dominating the field as the enemy troops disabled the energy wards and began their spirit assault. Yuusuke finally gave the hand signal to the large gathering of gray-winged youkai below him. All tall, white-haired, gray skinned and clad in dark energy concealing camouflage, they gaze impatiently up at him with pupiless white eyes. He gestured them 'go' and instantly every one of them took off, scattering to their assigned regiments like a firework of dove-like wings and snowy hair.

Dove Division: healers, medics, doctors and trained warriors immune to low level spirit energy, they were Yuusuke's best defensive unit and his last resort when a battle turned ill.

And the battle had begun to look very ill.

"Ur'meshi!" a voice broke in overhead, sounding winded.

Yuusuke looked up into Jin's wide blue eyes, taking in the shinobi's blood stained clothing. The Wind Master looked worse for the wear to say the least and his expression gave Yuusuke no doubts about that. The ninja had joined the battle not five minutes after the imp's report that the territory was officially at war. Yuusuke gave him two divisions to command on the Western flank, Veil five for the Eastern and Northern and his other military officer, Xander, three to man the South.

The red-haired ninja wiped a splatter of blood, another demon's judging by his lack of cuts, from his brow and grimaced. The straps off his shoulders had ripped and frayed like someone grabbed them and torn them from his back and bruises decorated his flesh wherever cloth did not hide it, but at least he didn't seem to have any serious wounds.

"Ur'meshi. I dun know wha's happ'nin, but 'bout a thousand o' our men just got hit from th' side boi somethin' huge!" he said, voice tinged with frustration. "I be thinkin' s'a real, whopper o' a dragon. I killed th' summoner, bu' th' bugger won' be dyin' any toime soon and we're losin' men."

"I'll take care of if!" Yuusuke said, almost relieved for something urgent to do. "Jin, take south side and help them out. I hear they're having troubles."

"Kin do!" Jin said, and spiraled off toward the trouble spot.

Yuusuke leapt up on the ramparts and dove off the high walls, plummeting for the ground. He flexed his aura, energy cushioning his fall as he landed softly on the ground, signaling to three of his trusted officers. The trio abandoned their posts to their second in command and took off with their Emperor to the fire-strewn battle field marking the Western flank.

"See that dragon?" he called over his shoulder.

Eyes widened, looked, then bobbed 'yes'.

"Good. We're gonna go kill it," he said, baring fangs in a demented grin that spurred his three companions on to smile as well. The four demons took off for the threat brewing and inwardly, Yuusuke wondered if his forces would live out the night.

-i-n-f-e-c-t-i-o-n-

_Shadows… fleeting darkness in an abyss of nothingness that spiraled into eternal ebony. Death? Darkness? Hell? He stood still, breath frozen in its aborted place on his lips, stuck over his tongue, forgotten as he stood breathless before the nothingness of it. As though he stood on the very knife edge of reality and the entire world threatened to tip and send him plunging into the inviting embrace of the sensation deprived darkness._

_In the back of his mind, he felt a flutter, a weak and tattered kind of struggle against a pull too great for matching and yet the pathetic, stubborn little bugger kept at it, fluttering behind his eyes, wings tips brushing his thoughts, tickling the inside of his skull. A butterfly to delicate to change anything…insignificant thought. Meaningless words that darted meaninglessly behind the silence of his vacant expression._

"_That is what awaits you, Hunter, if you continue to seek the light. The light and those stars your brethren spoke of. Precious, pitiless clouds that span out of your pathetic reach, little angel child," leered a voice, female, haughty and full of anger, of jealousy in something so pure she could never understand the sheer simple complexity of it. _

"_Why not?" he'd shouted out over the wailing shadows of the Pit, of the first darkness and the centre of all the Makai. Of all worlds. "Why can't I seek light? Why can't I go? Why only the darkness?"_

_The shadows, rippled, shuddered and slithered just beneath the lip of the jagged circumference, inky blackness undulating in irritation, confusion and envy, envy, always envy. He felt the cold breath of the Abyss, dark air stirring the paleness of his hair as the entity of the ebony stirred as well. His eyes, so attuned to the world of shadows and silence could barely discern the shape that now glided together like ink dribbling into a single, black, gossamer figure of wispy strands of impossibly long hair and lithe feminine curves that he could only just make out as such._

_Did she lift her arms? Turn her face to him?_

"_Child…child of darkness, my darkness, my shadows, why are you not content? Why do you turn your face from your mother when all the others have conformed to the shadows?" she uttered, voice soft, sultry and heavy as satin lining a coffin. "Why do you not shed your childish youth of light-lust? Mature! Grow into the great and terrible perfection I designed and delicately wove you to be! Why of all my children do you, the only one I want to be mine, turn to the cursed lighted world? Why? Answer me, impertinent child!"_

_Of course, he had no answer._

"_Hunter. My Hunter," she mourned. Her mood slid like a tide from one emotion to the next. "Even now you are lost to me? Your mind in the Above? In the Lit?"_

_He felt hot moisture at the back of his eyes. She manipulated him him, controlled him, owned him, and often hurt him with her words, her gestures or lack-there of, but she'd never hated him, never detested his pale hair, his bright skin that burned the eyes of his fellows or sneered when he looked toward the endless cavern ceilings in search of something too far away to possibly be tangible._

_She'd always, at some level, loved him though he knew that creatures of darkness like they could not feel such things in the manner of other creatures. Love? Love? How did he know this archaic word, long since banished from the Unlit like a profanity against the Mother herself? Did she understand it, if it was she who had birthed all Shadowkai? No. Never and yet, she radiated the emotions the rest of his kin did not. _

_They knew only hatred, only blood, only battle. He felt something they couldn't and fought with an ambition all his own and that too they despised him for. He conquered them with this compassion that awakened a power within him that the carnage of his brethren had failed to wake. And this gift that he himself did not understand… they hated him for it. **Hated him!**_

_And he killed them. Killed them all for hating his compassion and wept when the deed was done. He wept for them that in their hatred they would never know and in the manner of the shadowkai he could not abide them. One did not suffer his enemies to live and one left no one to question his domination. Their word meant nothing, because 'trust' meant as little as the 'joke' and 'betrayal' on par with innocent words like 'water' 'word' or 'breath'. To betray was natural and just and death the only alleviation to the chaotic destruction._

_The Mother's Children had feuded amongst themselves down to the last youkai and an abomination child at that. The Elders, the Children of the ages past, would never accept such a brilliant creature into their dark number. The Mother – though unquestioned in her supremacy – could not protect her brightest child from their darkness._

_They'd kill him for his abilities…or enslave him for them. _

"_Run, Hunter. Run Cloudhunter. My light in the shadows. How such a seed as your flourished I this darkness…it is not of my own doing." Did she sound sorrowful? Regretful? "Go to the surface and make for yourself a name. I am through with you. Go."_

_Go…_

_Go…_

_Go?_

"CLOUD! WAKE UP FOUR DAMN IT ALL! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

His eyes, the color of burnt ruby and fresh blood leapt open and he leapt like a cat to his feet, darkness eating at the natural light particles that meandered through the air on unseen wings, devouring them. Senses washed over him through the sudden alert to danger, adrenaline, shock and confusion. The air smelled of dew, dirt and leaves and the chill air ran freezing fingers along his exposed skin in cool waves, playing through his gossamer feathers.

Forest? Yes, they'd traveled here. Toward Yuusuke's territory?

A brilliant light to his left. Silver fur and alabaster skin that glowed like a beacon even in the night and shadows of the forest: Alaster. He smelt roses and petals swirled in the air about them like a gentle blizzard. Rose Whip? Did they need weapons yet?

To his right stood Shizuru, decked out in her dark shinobi derived style clothing. Her soft boots made no sound as she shifted her weight on the seemingly chunky footwear. Her breathe, almost undetectable, rose and fell with perfect body control, whereas the youko's breathing quivered with apprehension and anticipation. Her mask, sleek and dark had drawn up over her lower face, hiding her mouth, nose and the slope beneath her cheekbones. Only her slanted amber eyes, the color of pale cider, exposed her anxiety as they darted in search of a target, her long blades poised in her grasp.

"Who's attacking?" he asked, running his fingers through his feathers, plucking one free and slipping it from its place formerly camouflaged inside his dark wings. He gazed at the shimmering quill, black energy slithering into it before touching it gently to his face, savoring the shift between feather and metal as a blade materialized where the softest plume had once caressed his skin.

Shizuru didn't grace him with and answer, having watched his antics and apparently found him too disgusting to reply to like a civil being. Alaster, however, provided his answer.

"Shield," he whispered.

* * *

_**Until the time we meet again…**_

* * *


	11. Toasting the End

**Disclaimer: **Not mine.

**Story Thus Far: **Yuusuke's kingdom is fighting a losing battle against the hordes of Karasu's infected carriers. Meanwhile, Kurama and Mika are headed straight for the bio-hazard, thinking Yuusuke's territory to be safe. Then to top it all off, the first of the three assassins Hiei mentioned has just appeared to make things hard for Shizuru, Al and Cloud. Smashing darling!

Enjoy chapter 11!

**Toasting the End**

"Mika?"

"Yes?"

"I realize that a demon must arm one's self from attack but…"

"Huh?"

"You're nails are too long."

The teenager gave her guardian a startled look, making an odd sputtering sound as she ran along behind the redhead. The streetlights overhead whipped by like neon signs seen from the inside of a car in Vegas. They blurred in one long comet tail smear across the sky overhead as the two darted through the snowy night. The small mountain town streets had long since emptied, the freezing night driving all sane human beings indoor.

However, as previous conversation indicates the two beings running through the streets at high speeds rivaling a couple different jet airplanes, were not human.

Mika, dressed in only sweats and sneakers with her damp hair frozen in a clump about her head could think of almost no reply to her companion's strange attention to trivial details such as the length of her nails. As a teenage girl, the stereotypes said she was supposed to be fluent in the use of nail polish and pedicures, but she rarely dressed up nature's original plan with cosmetics unless she really, really needed something to do.

So, in retrospect, if she as a sixteen year old girl didn't give a damn about the state of her nails…then Kurama the millennia old fox thief who, while looking very pretty in the opinion of more than one crushing high-school girl, was in fact a male and probably should have less than minimal interest in the state of her fingertips. She also thought it her civic duty as a young woman to tell him so, lest doubts form in her mind as to the certainty of his masculinity.

"Umm…Yes, Perhaps I haven't cut them recently, but why do you care?" she inquired pleasantly.

Kurama's green-gold eyes flickered over his shoulder. "They're digging into my arm."

Mika, startled, looked down to see that her fingers had in fact latched themselves to the youko's arm with a grip so powerful she felt her fingers must have frozen that way in the cold.

"Oh…sorry…Kurama."

He smiled and wordlessly told her he didn't mind at all, just teasing her. He turned back to the road. She blinked, wondering momentarily just why she'd felt the need to cling to her guardian so tightly. Sure, that Terrasuka lady had her creepy quirks and yeah the Christmas carolers from hell didn't do much for the imagination, but cutting off the circulation to Kurama's fingers wouldn't much improve her situation.

So why do that?

She chocked it up to trauma and didn't relinquish her hold, finding that she didn't really want to anyway. Her subconscious might have something here even if her pride didn't want to admit it. She pulled herself closer and hugged his arm selfishly, taking comfort in the youko's proximity. As long as he didn't take off with out her she'd be fine. He couldn't leave her. She was Mika after all and he was her guardian. It was his job to protect her, be with her, care for her. One could almost saw they belonged to one anoth…

"Mika that hurts," Kurama said dryly.

The girls snapped out of her thoughts with frightening clarity, jerking like a student caught sleeping and tapped by a teacher. She released his arm instantly, blushing and falling into step behind him. Her brain struggled to wake and for just a moment of blurry haze she giddily wanted to tell him he smells just like an herb garden and roses, just to see what would happen. He'd probably look all cute and confused and not get it. What a funny thought!

"What?" Kurama said, stopping so suddenly she crashed straight into his back, her cheek hitting his shoulder blade.

"Ow!" she said, hurt. She rubbed her cheek furiously, but the kitsune was staring at her so peculiarly that she soon forgot about the sting of bruises. His gaze, well-humored only moments previous, had gone unquestionably bewildered as he examined her closely. She glowered, annoyed that he protector had hurt her. "What? Why are you staring at me?"

"What did you say?" he repeated, crouching beside a pile of trash cans and shifting them to one side. The dimness around them indicated that she and Kurama had entered an ally of some sort, the portal hidden in the filthy back-path somewhere. The youko tossed the last dumpster aside. The air behind them wavered and glowed, an indicator that the Barrier between the Maki and Ningenkai had worn dangerously thin. He touched it with an experimental finger and the distortions grew more pronounced before he withdrew. So focused on the barrier was he that he hardly noticed her battling expressions.

"I didn't say anything," she snapped, irritation growing. Wasn't he supposed to be really smart or something?

He cocked his head the way he did when he didn't like something. She'd seldom seen him give her that look and it disturbed her on an infinitesimal level. But a very different and unusual emotion swamped the little part and drowned it out. Anger…what right did he have to look at her like that? She was practically godsdamned royalty among demons and what was he? A thief and a cutthroat he had no right in hell to look at her like that. How dare he?

"Are you sure?" he said slowly, concern seeping into his slanted green-gold eyes. "I could have sworn you said something strange…"

"No!" she burst out, anger getting the better of her. "No! I didn't say anything! _Dammit_ Kurama why do you have to be so _stupid?_"

And there it was. As soon as the words left her mouth and she really, for real heard them in the air she wanted nothing more than to nab them from the cold mountain altitudes and swallow them back up. But the damaged had been done and the collateral reflected in her guardian's expression of pure, unguarded shock. His cool, easy-going expression had fallen away in the face of her sudden verbal assault. He hadn't bothered to mask his feelings because…frankly, he hadn't thought he'd have to.

Mika slapped her fingers across her mouth and like waking from a nightmare broke into a cold sweat. "Oh…oh Kurama I didn't mean that!" she said frantically. "I'm sorry I don't…I don't know why I said that. I'm sorry."

"No it's okay," he said leniently, but gradually, standing up. "You're just a little shaken Mika. Once we get to your father's realm you can get some rest."

Anger flared, suddenly, illogically and Mika couldn't stop herself. "I don't need _rest_ you idiot! I'm fine! It's your fault anyway!" Horror! Why had she said that?

Kurama's expression didn't melt into hurt this time. No. His eyes darkened and closed the way they did in battle and the soft curve of his mouth thinned into a hard line. His mask fell into place and that spoke far more deeply than any emotion the youko could have outwardly expressed. He only hid his emotions from those he could not trust completely without a shadow of doubt. Right now he treated her to the same expression he'd displayed against Terrasuka…none at all.

To the teenager's further horror, her mouth jumped on the thought and spewed it into words before she could halt the damning syllables.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Stop looking at me like that! Stop it!" she screamed, voice soaring in pitch. "You're not supposed to look at me like that! It burns! Fiery eyes burning straight into my bosom's core! Respite – respite sweet nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!"

Kurama's grim, even gaze (far more wary that before for obvious reasons) flickered down to her grip on his arm and then traveled back to her. He stepped back, but she, desperate for him to hear her out, followed. She reached out and snagged his arm again, clutching his slender wrist in a clammy grip. His eyes flickered and she knew he'd considered whether or not to pull away from her, but he chose against it. He _had_ to listen! He couldn't walk away without her apologizing first! She _had_ to apologize!

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean that either!" she cried, tears of frustration gathering behind her feverish mocha eyes. "I'm so useless! I keep saying the wrong thing! Wait – no! That's all wrong too! Not what I wanted to say…again! Kurama-sama, I don't know why I keep saying stupid things!"

Kurama's expression grew anxious but he didn't try to hold or comfort her like he would have at age five. The last time she'd ever called his Kurama-sama. His slim, clever fingers traveled up to her clinging hands and pried them off his arm so he could hold them between his palms, examining them. He frowned and moved her hands up to his lips and breathed warm air gently between his fingers in an attempt to warm them.

"You're freezing. You must fever," he told her, tone even and calm. "You do need rest, Mika. I want you to hold onto me – tightly – and hold on until I tell you to let go. We have to stay together when we cross over. This portal is a natural one and very unstable."

She nodded numbly and the youko's eyes dared a glimmer of brotherly affection over their entwined hands.

And suddenly Mika couldn't _tolerate_ that expression, couldn't _stand_ him with his perfect face, perfect mind, perfect _damn_ **_everything_** and she wanted to _kill_ him. Right now! He wasn't expecting it. One good blast of energy would completely rid her sight of that face. She'd put up with his wiser-than-thou routine for sixteen years and endured his oh-so-benevolent presence for far too long. She had the pedigree of a Toushin line. A mongrel thief didn't deserve to call himself her guardian!

Time to lose that pretty face!

But no! She could do that. How could she have ever thought such a _vulgar_ thing? A _terrible_ thing! Shame consumed her and she wanted to cry, almost did too. How could she have thought of killing Kurama like that? Such an unforgivable thought so…so…so _messy_! She couldn't be messy! So unfitting! She wouldn't touch that face! Never! She'd take out his heart, his demon core, whatever it was that pumped blood through that immortal body of his and keep his perfect angel face untouched. The only worthy feature in his filthy body…

Oh why couldn't have just kept his hair the way it used to be?

Then Kurama interrupted her thoughts, startling her. His great green-gold eyes had gone wide, his mouth parted in a stunned expression. He slowly released her hands, stepping back from her as his face grew more and more distant.

"You've never seen me with my hair long…" he whispered…or did he growl?

She blinked. Oops…she must have said that last thought a loud without noticing. Ancient fox-spirit and high-schooler stood, face to face as conflicting emotion raced across their faces, flitted through their minds and something cracked in the air between them like a solid breaking of trust. The snow fell in a sudden flurry, swirling through the ally and throwing their clothes and hair awry.

Then a slow, disturbing grin etched up the side of her face and blue light flooded her eyes. "Gee Kurama, I didn't think about it but I guess I'm not totally in my own head," she snickered. "I'm _so_ sorry, but you have to go now."

Kurama moved so fast Mika actually _didn't_ see him do it.

His hand made an upward gesture of some sort and Mika grunted as a solid something collided with her belly. Pain blinded her, stars erupting behind her eyes and pain consumed her brain. The force of the blow rocketed her into the ally wall behind her with enough force to almost demolish the side of the building. The bricks exploded in dusty chips of mortar and stone, shattering with the impact of her teenaged body. The indent held her limbs in the broken brick a moment before gravity pulled her slowly out of the shock that her guardian had _actually_ stuck her!

With a groan she slipped from the rubble's embrace and slithering to the snowy ground, moaning. Her head ached, her brain throbbing against the inside of her skull as if it would burst through the fragile shell of bone and spill her feverish thoughts across the icy concrete. Kurama had _hit_ her…he hadn't even hesitated. He'd struck her down and he hadn't done much to lighten the blow save sparing her life. Blood oozes thickly from the long gash she recently noticed tracing the flesh from her collarbone to her belly.

The irregular and jagged rips of her skin and sweatshirt could only belong to his weapon of choice. The scent of the Rose Whip hung in the air like a fine perfume, masking the metallic tang of blood. For a second part of her wept that in that instant, in that moment Kurama, her guardian, protector a surrogate brother had beat her down in a single unfeeling blow. She'd heard the tales of his former ruthless lifestyle: logic so unfettered that compassion, though prominent in his mind, could be completely eclipsed by his cold intellect of battle…but she'd never truly believed them until now.

Then her madness and rage swamped her thoughts like a plague, infecting, and in her feverish mind she could suddenly see him for the monster he hid behind his angel's face. Killer, cutthroat, blood-spiller, thief, ruthless rogue! HE didn't deserve to live! What honor did he have? Even Hiei had a code, but not this _mongrel_ **_fox_**!

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" she screamed.

Kurama flicked the rose whip behind him and eyed her with an expression so cold he might have never known her all his life. A sudden gust of white confetti snow blasted across her view and for a moment the world narrowed to nothing save her gaze locked on his and suddenly the entirety of all reality shrank to those piercing green-gold eyes and a cool so cruel that her crazed mind almost cleared.

Her lips trembled for an instant, her warm breath forming a wispy puff of steam in to chill air, a name slipping out with the silvery cloud; so weak and strained a child might have said it.

"Kurama-san?" she whimpered.

His eyes narrowed. "You're not Mika...and using her emotions to play with mine will not work. I won't drop my guard."

Mika grinned insanely. "Too late, Red! You're going for a long trip! Have fun!"

The fox didn't even hear her finish the sentence because just as she started talking another voice – originating from some place overhead – shouted loudly. "Yoink!" And something cold and solid slammed into Kurama's chest, ignoring the rose whip and the momentum sent both him and his attacker reeling back and the youko toppled into the portal, leaving Mika behind in an eddy of icy and snow.

Mika sat there on her knees, gasping, heat eating her body from the inside like liquid fire in her belly and blood. It hurt. It hurt and suddenly, as if someone had cut her marionette strings she slumped to the ground in a dead faint…the snow turning crimson beneath her battered body, the only thing remaining was a tiny black seed stuck to the back of her hand where Kurama had left it.

It began to bloom.

* * *

The darkened forest shook, trembling as the distant rumble of battle scarred the Makai soil with death and destruction. Yuusuke's realm vibrated, the world seeming to shake itself from reality as the skies boiled with dark crimson clouds that threatened to rain blood down through the twisted branches of perverted foliage. Cloud, Shizuru and Alaster stood back to back to back, surveying the surrounding forest for any sign of Kumuro's assassin.

Alaster momentarily marveled just how quickly and accurately the prediction of Hiei's Evil Eye had come to pass. Only a couple hours out of the Unlit and already, the first of the three assassins had arrived. Though, whether or not the other two, Blade and Marionette, lurked nearby remained uncertain. Then the killer broke the torturous quiet, a young and easy-sounding timbre cutting the tension like a scalpel.

"My name," said the assassin "is Shield."

"Congratulations…" Cloud mumbled, spinning his blade smoothly between his fingers, hissing through the air. Alaster stepped away from the dark angel so he had more room to maneuver and the blonde scanned the trees about himself with wary interest. "Now how about coming out and fighting us?"

"As you wish," the voice consented mildly.

A pale blue orb of faerie fire winked into life overhead.

The blaze illuminated everything in the clearing, throwing gnarled roots into violent exaggeration and revealing the tall, dark figure standing only yards away from the trio. Shadows stretched long, clawing fingers in the sudden exposure, casting funny patterns across their attacker's comfortably fit black tunic, leggings and fingerless back gloves winding up to his elbows under ebony arm guards. His soft soles shoes made no sound on the overgrown forest floor and he didn't appear to be armed, but then again, shinobi assassins rarely did.

He'd let his naturally dark hair grow long in the fashion of ancient shinobi sects and knotted it tightly at the base of his skull. However, by the same means that Hiei's hair did not submit to the laws of Issac Newton, neither did the eight odd spikes of contrastingly bright blue tresses along his hairline. Or perhaps the spikes were white, stained blue by the glow of the cobalt faerie fire.

The strange color choice added an unworldly glow to Shield's brilliant maroon eyes, making them glow and stand out vividly in his well-featured face.

Then again…

Alaster figured the glow probably had _nothing_ to do with lighting affects.

"So…" Shield's strange eyes traveled amongst the mismatched trio. "_You_ are the three. I anticipated the girl and the young kitsune, but I was not informed that there was a dark angel amid your number. I shall have to work much harder to please my lord."

Cloud tipped his head, a faintly neurotic glint penetrating the calm of his eyes. Glossy black feathers rippled in anticipation of a battle, his grip shifting ever so slightly along the hilt of his feather scimitar. Mimicking Shield, his eyes began to glow in the azure cast of the faerie fire, misty black energy darkening the dim light with his shadowy aura.

"I'll say," Cloud told him, face as expressionless as his voice.

Shizuru stepped toward him, twin long blades glowing at the ready. She lifted her masked chin and placed on hand on her hip, carefully angling her own blade away from her thigh. "Are you sure you want to fight all three of us?

Shield smiled coyly and tucked a stray coil of his odd blue hair behind the minute gray-feathered wing where most creatures might had sported an ear, then did the same to his opposite side. The assassin, by all female accounts, seemed a likely looking type despite the wings and burgundy eyes. Shizuru even paused to give him a good once-over. However, his deceptively shy smile masked the more sinister emotion Alaster could smell in the air, read in his body language.

Confidence…with a hint of insanity…

"I believe I am up to the challenge," Shield said with a nod.

Cloud gave a one shouldered shrug … then vanished. Alaster saw Shield's eyes immediately fill with an inferno of maroon fire. Flickering purple-red light blazed into life about his slender figure as the assassin closed his eyes and arranged his fingers in an arcane symbol before his chest. Soon a thin veil of colored energy shrouded his entire body like a second skin, filling the air around him with purple light while Cloud's comrades waited for their shadowkai ally to dice Shield into mince meat.

To Alaster's shock, Cloud reappeared beside Shizuru looking bemused for the second time this encounter.

His blade had vanished, leaving a burnt looking feather crumbling between his long fingers. Shizuru looked momentarily stunned by Cloud's failure to totally murder their assailant. So far Cloud's battle prowess, when really poured on, had solved all their problems with rough opponents thus far. His strange malfunction to do so now rather startled them. But Cloud turned to her with an 'Oh what? You can do better?' expression and her pride kicked shock out the door. She spun on Shield with a haughtily expression.

"I heard you can only defend yourself," she ventured haughtily. "Is that true?"

Shield's eyes opened, dimming back to a darker maroon, though his cloak over energy remained in place. Alaster noticed that the two wings located just beneath each temple had grown somewhat in stature and arched out farther from his head. As a result his hair fell in his face again, but that didn't detract from his demure smile.

"I can see you're worried," Shield remarked placidly, directing his words toward Shizuru.

"I'm not either. If you can only defend, what good are you?" she sneered, an attempt to rouse him to answer.

He only smiled that infuriating little grin…familiar…much like Touya's before he'd tried to kill them. "I serve my purposes," Shield murmured cryptically in the manner of most assassins. "For example, I recently met with the Master and lent him a bit of my spirit energy. Unless you can break my shields or kill me he too will be completely invulnerable to physical or spiritual attacks."

Shizuru narrowed her eyes. "Karasu? Then you're infected too aren't you?"

Cloud, who'd been occupying himself with a long glowering stare, made a low and feral noise in the back of his throat that sounded disturbingly bestial. The sinuous muscle along his slender arms grew tense at the mention of Karasu, his upper lip curling back from his fangs and Alaster smelled his scent change even. Obviously he didn't like anyone making his already difficult task any more difficult for him. Alaster chewed anxiously on his sucker, watermelon favored. Yum.

"That got your attention didn't it?" Shield went on, "Furthermore, while you are incapable of touching _me… I _can easily touch _you_."

Cloud took step forward, dark wisps of energy wafting off his skin. "Would you like to _test_ that theory?"

"Little raven, you can test me all you want," he offered kindly. "Don't worry, I won't break."

Shizuru and Cloud exchanged looks…and lunged at the shinobi.

Suffice to say, it startled the assassin, obviously having not expected them to _actually_ take him up on the offer, but nonetheless, he recovered well. Cloud's shadow wreathed boot smashed Shield directly across the crown of his skull and Shizuru's demon talismans snapped from her swift fingers like angry hornets to sting his body.

Cloud ended up jarring his leg, shoving himself off his target whilst Shizuru's paper spells disintegrated into piles of ashy dust. She looked shocked, Cloud looked pensive…which was probably his dark angel substitute for shock. The two warriors landed beside one another, steadied themselves and traded stares of bewilderment. Their spirit senses told them their powers excelled above his, yet still the assassin deflected their most lethal attacks…all of various types too.

Alaster, meanwhile, watched Shield's face very closely…searching for a weakness, a vocal point, a loophole in his strategy.

Cloud waved his arms in a slow, arcane spell and Shizuru stepped back, familiar with the nature of his attack and getting wisely away. The shadowkai's eyes turned a hellish fire color and the slow fluid gesture snapped into a violent cutting sweep and a crescent-moon razor of ebony energy launched itself from his hand with a screaming howl and Alaster had to block his ears to bear.

Shield's eyes flared maroon and his body glowed with burgundy light before the attack hit…and disintegrated into little black wisps. Cloud sucked a sharp breathe, Shizuru swore and Alaster just kept watching. As the dust cleared, Shield stepped forward, still glowing red as he waved away the dust, coughing.

"My, you're a powerful lot," he remarked. "Shame I must kill you."

The assassin sighed and lifted his left arm in direct symmetry to his right arm, slowly shifting to extend in a perfect horizontal line… Then he vanished completely. Confusion! Pulse-skipping! Shizuru threw up a hasty shield about herself, while her dark angel counter-part flared out his wings in a protective canopy, extending over himself and Shizuru both. Alaster combed a seed from his hair and began to feed energy into the…

"Alaster! Watch out!"

_Oh, dammit_, thought the youko.

Too late. A long-fingered hand circled his throat and the tip of a small, blackened dagger settled delicately against the dip of his collar bone, just at the base of his throat. Through the corner of his right eye he could make out the side of his attacker's winged head and the still-present maroon glow of his eyes and aura. He'd drawn his teammates into an attack, leaving Alaster separate and vulnerable to attack and the fox was pissed that he'd failed to see it in time. Damn…

Alaster's great rosy eyes immediately began to move from left to right, scanning the area as if in search of escape options and the lollipop spun meticulously inside his mouth. He didn't move; let his eyes scan the leafy boughs overhead, the dark splotches of thick red leaves blotting out the bloody sky. He let himself relax, his mind to come away from his fear to focus on escape. Fear was his only killer right now. He needed to think clearly and without panic.

Defensive technique.

Shield specialized in shinobi defensive technique, but only the defensive part. Any good fighter knew that the best defense was a great offense or better yet, a blend of the two. To only have trained in defensive style fighting left a hole somewhere where his offense should have played a key role. Alaster's mind flew to the words spoken by Hiei only hours earlier, the Touya and Jin's lectures years before that. There _was_ a hole.

He just had to find it.

* * *

Falling through dimensions is kind of disorientating…just a little bit. For a shocking moment Kurama couldn't figure out what had occurred in the span of those seconds.

He felt himself falling end over end through time and space with somebody else gripping his shoulders so tightly his bones protested the strain. The pain and his distorted thoughts were the only things he could perceive in the spinning, reality of nameless colors and knowing it the wisest path, simply closed his eyes and refused to look. The silence of the Between pressed on his eardrums like a shrieking child's wail, and against his will his lips parted in a silent cry of pain as the noiselessness deafened him.

Then the silence exploded and the rushing roar of air in his ears and the soft noises of reality poured into his previously numbed senses and the youko instantly recovered from the nausea. _First things first,_ he thought, _get this person trying to throttle me off my chest…_

Kurama snarled and seized his attacker's thick blue-white tunic and hurled the slighter demon off him. The enemy youkai grunted, flipping upright as he soared out of Kurama's line of sight. The youko coiled his body and arched his body into a quick spring, landing on his feet. She spun to face his attacker and before his assailant could recover he unloaded a fresh batch of generic rose petals at youkai.

A familiar voice laughed and Kurama felt his stomach heave as recognition struck him. Originally his anxiety was that he'd just attacked an ally…but that didn't last long.

"Mists of December!"

The slender figure of a youngish demon in blue and white shinobi garb leapt up and held out a hand as if to stop the deadly blizzard of petals with his bare hand. His eyes blazed a white hot blue the air pulsated and Kurama felt the condensation in the air get sucked from his very lungs as a deadly cloud of silver mist billowed toward him like a gauzy tidal wave. Kurama swallowed a hasty breath and threw his arms over his head as the freezing cloud engulfed him in the opaque vapor.

Kurama quickly flicked a seed into his fingers and bloomed it fast. Vines, thick, leafy and green snaked from his hand and spread like serpents across the smooth marble floors toward opposite ends of the room. Then with a mental command from him, the tendrils stemmed up from the ground and sprouted ugly gray-green buds that splayed four sticky, yellow petals, exposing deep mouth-like openings. The flowers all shuddered and instantly began sucking up the poisonous gases, absorbing them into its botanical anatomy.

Soon the air cleared, the mists drifting away into nothing as Kurama's plants breathed up the lethal cloud and expelled fresh oxygen to replace it. The fox waited until the haze totally cleared before venturing his first experimental breath. He didn't die, took this as a good omen and straightened up. He had a new Rose Whip in his hand before he even spotted his traitorous attacker.

The room's edges, misty with natural fogs that Touya's icy presence created, obscured the shinobi somewhere in the large regal chamber. The high arches of marble seemed quite familiar to the youko, but the time for décor admiring could wait until Ice Masters trying to kill him…stopped attempting to do so. He turned in a slow circle, green-gold eyes scanning the surrounding mist coldly.

"Touya!" he shouted, voice rippling with predatory aggression. "Why did you attack Mika and me? Come out and answer me, Ice Master!"

A snicker and Kurama knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that whatever had infected Mika – oh yes, he knew it a disease when he saw one – had also taken root in the mind of the young ice demon. The youko pursed his lips, expecting an attack at random, but instead he sensed Touya's aura from the right and turned to face him, curiously, as the slender demon stepped out of the foggy clouds.

His looked the picture of self possession, a charismatic smile angled crookedly across his handsome face, hands on his hips, eyes glowing with friendly enthusiasm. Now if, say, Yuusuke had greeted him in such a way the thief king probably would have laughed it off as a stupid prank employed by a stupid adolescent.

But since it was Touya the Ice Master, king of emotionless glares and logical efficiency Kurama knew that something had gone severely, murderously _wrong_ with the shinobi.

"Touya. What happened to you?" Kurama demanded, thinking that talking would probably distract the ninja from attacking, give him a moment to settle and recover his bearings. Touya opened his mouth as if to say something, but before the syllables formed, the ice demon's eyes suddenly turned a sickly wine-red, and then flickered back to blue. But his words had left him and he only grinned insanely.

"What happened? Gods! A load of stuff!" Touya blurted, launching into an animated (and totally unnatural) verbal spiel. "Unbelievable really, I'd tell you all about it, Kurama, buddy, but I have an Emperor to infect and you've got a previous engagement with an old friend." He ended with a creepily pleasant smile.

Kurama felt a cold finger of apprehension trace down his spine and he carefully kept his face without expression.

"What are you talking about? Explain," he ordered.

"Ooh. Can't I get a please?" Touya asked, mock injured by the youko's blunt words. "Guess not. But tell yu' what. I'll show you to dinner and your host will gladly explain every thing to you. He's quite eager to meet with you again; been such a long time, memories, battles, death and all that jazz."

Touya looked toward the wall behind him and raised a hand. The mists of ice parted before him and revealed a previously obscured double doorway. Kurama's eyes lit with recognition as the great golden emblem of the Spirit Realm glinted from the centre of either door like great yellow eyes. Touya, grinning like a kid in a candy store, turned to face his companion and stepped aside.

"You first," he said mischievously.

Kurama didn't go first and he didn't let go of his Rose Whip. "No."

Touya shrugged. "Fine. I'll go, you follow. Whatever blows your skirt up, Red."

Kurama had the grace to look somewhat appalled but Touya already had his back to the fox thief and started walking toward the door, bare feet making no sound as he moved. The fox-demon huffed, hated every moment of this, but begrudgingly followed the younger demon through the entry.

As much as he disliked it, Touya's power was nothing to sneeze and fighting him would only result in the death of a friend, and his own exhaustion for whatever – stronger he suspected – host wanted to meet him. Besides, Touya had pulled him through some rift in the Between and in doing so, succeeded in trapping him in the Reikai and in Enma's Fortress no less. Just the setting, practically in King Enma's custody, sent nervous ticks through his criminal brain. Perhaps the 'host' was Enma himself, wanting to know where all his precious and recently stolen treasures had gotten to.

Best not to aggravate the situation when it could be avoided...

Touya led Kurama for quite some time and miraculously did so in silence more befitting of the somber Ice Master. The labyrinth turns of the Spirit World headquarters seemed endless and impossible to navigate, but the fox did manage to keep track of the left and right turns the ice demon made, hoping it would aid him in case of hasty retreat. The plush carpeting indicated that they currently walked through the royal wing of the fortress, reinforcing Kurama's suspicions about Enma's involvement in this little escapade.

Though…Touya's disturbing new personality did bemuse him somewhat.

"Touya," Kurama called calmly.

The ice youkai glanced back at him. "Hmm?"

"Why are we in the Reikai? A shinobi such as yourself would most certainly not be allotted such freedoms as this unless you've made some kind of deal with Enma. Am I wrong?"

Touya folded his arms and stared at the ceiling in open thought, another uncharacteristic trait Kurama didn't like. "Well…you could call it a deal. Yes, I've got a contract of sorts, but only distantly with Enma. Don't worry, though, Enma isn't interested in you right now. Far too busy trying to crush Yuusuke and control the Third Realm."

Kurama sucked a breath. "What?"

Touya clapped a hand to his face in mock appall. "Oh my, did I say that out _loud_? My apologies."

The ice demon turned suddenly to a large, black enamel door and violently kicked the entry way wide open. The door crashes inward, screaming on its hinges as it bashed into the wall and rebounded, but Touya had already entered and he caught the wooden with the heel of his hand, solid blue eyes lit up with reckless glee. Kurama carefully slipped in behind the shinobi, green-gold eyes examining everything with emotionless scrutiny.

"Your guest is here, tall dark and creepy! Should I hang around to wait tables or what?" he sneered, probably inappropriately.

Bright lights illuminated the room, many wax and faerie fire candles floating about or set about the room's furniture. The harmless scent of vanilla perfumed the air, but the youko suspected toxins and held tightly to the seed he'd used previously against Touya. Kurama narrowed his eyes, feeling his stomach worming a round the way it did whenever uncomfortable with something. The tall, arching marble ceilings, recently adorned with heavy velvet drapes of crimson, black and emerald green spoke of sensuous intimacy the way the long sloping dinner table with its elegant wood design and satin tablecloth did.

Frankly, he really didn't like it.

So when he spotted two large, throne-like chairs positioned at the two far ends of the long table and twin dinnerware laid out, polished and glittering on the table top his stomach elevated to flip-flops and a small measure of nausea began to take advantage of his squeamishness. As he continued to eye the table and the many covered dishes of delicious smelling delicacies and the single exit behind him…the only exit…he began to think he wasn't going to like who ever it was Touya called 'tall, dark and creepy'.

Then someone stood up from the seat at the far end of table, where the shadows had previously obscured him and Kurama felt his stomach had suddenly vanished from its place between the esophagus and large intestine, retreating and leaving Kurama to wish he could follow.

"Kurama. Lovely to see you again after so long…" drawled a slow, purring male voice, hypnotic and appreciative. "You've grown up a bit haven't you?"

Touya had vanished someplace between 'lovely' and 'grown up', off to infect people like he'd said he would, abandoning Kurama in the room with his impromptu host. The youko's immediate reaction, naturally, was to leapt up onto the table and attack with his most powerful demon plant life, but then again to rush in, throwing all his cards on the table might prove unwise. No doubt _he'd_ planned for such a reaction.

The second option lay with that hopes that Touya had left the door unlocked when he'd made his exit and Kurama doubted that very much and his lock picking skills, no matter how good, could not get him through that door fast enough to escape his enemy sinking sharpened claws into his back. No.

He refused to run from this enemy.

So, with every ounce of self possessed dignity the deceptively young-looking redhead could muster without cracking a grimace, he dismissed his Rose Whip and pulled the near chair out for himself. Then he sank into the tall chair, feeling somewhat dwarfed by the size of all the décor about him and sat up straight, eyes narrowed into a feral slits of predatory hatred that touched him on a primal level.

His host smiled, having taken the liberty of removing his familiar metal face mask and laying it ominously on the table beside the salad dish. His pale angular face, the familiar haunting features that had so flitted through the fox thief's nightmares seemed to stand out with freakish clarity, framed by his trade mark black tresses, glossy and well kempt. His disgustingly lovely amethyst eyes drank the redhead in with sick intrigue.

Karasu poured himself a glass of dark, red-wine and swirled it in the delicate crystal glass before lifting it toward Kurama.

"To the end of everything, Kurama-kun," he toasted. "And to us."

* * *

**_Cheating death again…_****

* * *

**

Author's Note

**Me: **I hate to tell you this, but I have no excuses for my lateness save computer access. It's limited. No details available currently.

**Cloud8.9: **Sorry, she's crabby. Her family's too cheery for her and they all pisser her off every other minute of the day. She'd bounce back eventually.

**Cheezit: **No more talking!


	12. Choking Up

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything…but Cloud. I do own him…and all my other OCs…mine…and this chocolate bar here…MMMMmmmm…

**Story Thus Far: **Well, it seems the assassin, Shield has Alaster as a hostage and Kurama is currently dining with his arch nemesis, Karasu. Yuusuke's troops fight a losing battle, unaware that Touya is coming to do in their Emperor and Mika lies in a dead faint in the snowy streets of the Ningenkai.

Enjoy Chapter 11!

**Choking Up**

Shield smiled again, tipping his head in a sympathetic gesture. "I did tell you," he reminded Shizuru gently.

"Nice going," Cloud drawled from somewhere in the background.

Shizuru hissed at him to shut his mouth or she'd do something unpleasant to his face with a staple gun. Alaster felt his captor chuckle, mildly amused by their dysfunctional teamwork. A professional such as himself must have found them extremely childish in their antics. However, Shizuru's threat did little to sooth Cloud's newly ruffled feathers (literally) and the shadowkai responded in kind, this time with a nasty little number involving the demon-huntress's undergarments, a pineapple and other parts of her female anatomy.

Shield didn't react to that one. Shock presumably.

While all this happened, the hostage fox-spirit sighed and stared, annoyed, up at the overhanging boughs of thickly blooming tree-life. As a professional thief and crime organizer, he couldn't stand it when his chosen accomplices didn't work smoothly together. Part of the reason he usually worked alone on his heists. If he'd had the choice in teammates for this newly budded 'save-the-world' spiel, he would have _never_ in his right mind have selected Shizuru and Cloud to work together. They simply did not function simultaneously.

_This is why I like to steal things_, he thought darkly._ It doesn't involve fighting…or working with other people. And why am I thinking about this? Isn't my life supposed to be in danger? Gods, I think the strangest thinks when being threatened. I'm actually **bored**._

Now Alaster, logical, intelligent youkai that he was, never imagined he'd find being taken hostage dull…Yet, here he was: bored…and being held hostage.

"Are they always like that?" Shield inquired mildly.

The half-breed blinked, realizing the assassin had directed the question at him. The miniature wings sprouted from beneath Shield's loose bangs fluttered innocently. For all his so-called dangerous personification he didn't strike Alaster as the killer type.

"Pretty much," Alaster said with a shrug. "You get used to it."

Shizuru, sporting a much disheveled mop of hair and bright red flush to her skin, spun away from the gold-haired shadowkai who spat something foul in his native language. She gave him the finger and fixed her attention on Alaster, her cider-hued eyes clearing of their momentary anger and remembering that 'Oh yeah, someone was holding Al hostage.

"Look Shield, just let Al go," Shizuru broke in. "He's not a threat to you. You're a shinobi, you know he's a novice compared to you. Why kill him needlessly?"

_Gee, thanks Sis._

Shield didn't reply, but he didn't obey either. Alaster closed his eyes and prayed his tactic would work, because if he blew it now, Shield would sever his windpipe and let him bleed out. He had to get this right first. Shizuru's voice told Al she hadn't given up on sweet-talking his assailant. Good luck with that, he scorned, knowing Shizuru had about as much social charm as a cactus. She gnawed her lip beneath her mask and Alaster rolled his single useless seed between his slim fingers in agitation.

Wait…useless?

Enlightened – or so he hoped – he focused on his breathing, falling into a deep trance-like state and slowing his heart-rate, his breath, causing his chest to rise and fall more evenly. Energy threaded through his skin, pooling just beneath the surface and leaking through his hair in undetectable increments. Certain seeds began to bloom and bud inches from his captor's finger's but the shinobi seemed preoccupied with Shizuru's words.

_Just a bit more energy…just a little longer…_

"This has to end with your death," Shield was telling her sadly. "I have my orders."

"Orders from a deranged psychopath," Cloud's toneless voice interrupted. Alaster wrote a mental sticky-note to seriously place something thorny in the shadowkai's bed next time they stopped to rest. Why did he travel with such socially challenged teammates? No matter…

"You're shinobi trained," Shizuru broke in, speaking to Shield. "No shinobi would serve a monster like Karasu. You can break free of the disease. You can beat it."

_YES!_ The seeds in his hair bloomed into a fine webbing of delicate, colored flora, leaking pollen and the thick scent of new spring growth into the air. Shield noticed this immediately and didn't like it.

The assassin jerked the smaller demon – yes, smaller – toward him and seized a thicker fistful of his pale hair, yanking his head back and laying his carefully darkened blade against the vulnerable arch of his throat. The kitsune heard Shizuru gasp and the tell-tale hiss of blades finding their homes inside sheathes. His heart, which up until now had remained pretty-much steady, skipped a couple beats and quickened.

He could feel Shield's shift in body language, going from playful to business in a smooth transition of emotions and motive. Shield's mouth brush Alaster's ear as he spoke, warm breath stirring loose tresses of silver.

"Are you trying to die, fox?"

He smiled. "Tell me something Shield…how did Hiei beat you?"

The assassin looked surprised and for a moment could say nothing. Then he seemed to regain his wits and answered warily. "That is none of your concern."

"Oh, but it is!" the youko said earnestly. "You see…I plan to beat you too. Obviously Hiei has more skill than I, but according to you skill doesn't matter since nothing threatening can penetrate your barriers."

No reply only intrigued silence. Al went on.

"I think Hiei did one of three things…either he attacked and attack you until your shields shattered (which I doubt), he tricked you into dropping your barriers, or – my theory – he found the hole in your defenses."

Shield looked angry. "There are no holes in my defense."

Alaster smiled. "Wrong. I've already slipped past them."

Shield looked startled…then the maroon glow of his eyes flared hot and he gasped, jerking as if slapped by unseen attacker. Alaster reacted instantly, ducking his captor's blade and shoving away from the winged killer. The assassin fell back and toppled to on his side, coughing and clutching his throat. The purple-red glow about his body flickered…dimmed and faded completely, the young demon writhing in pain as he struggled for air.

Alaster lifted both his hands, focusing on the sensation of energy radiating from his fingers, his soft, raspberry gaze gleaming fox-eyes green. Shizuru sputtered unintelligibly. Cloud merely stared questioningly at him.

Al shrugged. "I bloomed my flowers to see if he could smell them. He did, that meant that some things his shields consider harmless…like air or, in association, the pollen in that air, can get through his defenses," explained the youko. "He can block anything, stop any attack, but something as non-threatening and humble as pollen or perhaps smoke or fumes of the Dragon of Darkness Flame can cripple him."

Shield's burgundy gaze smoldered with anger as his cheeks turned a slow crimson due to air deprivation. He coughed and managed to force out two strained words for Alaster.

"Damn…y-you…"

Alaster glanced back at the other two. "Get going. I can hold his shields at bay."

Cloud glanced at the choking assassin. "Why not just kill him?"

Shizuru eyed Cloud warily as the usually peaceable shadowkai gave in once again to whatever dark instinct his wings and energy symbolized. Now that he'd let loose his powers in the underground, something…innocent had been consumed by his darkness. He didn't seem as distressed, nor flustered as before, but he also lacked his character concern over the lives of others. At least before, he'd preferred to let his opponents live if possible.

Al gave the dark angel a similar look, then replied, "It's my concern whether or not he lives. Either way, I sense his barriers have all fallen to pieces, including the one around Karasu."

Shield growled and made a gallant effort to lever himself up…it didn't work, seeing how the simple move aggravated his horrible coughing fit. He doubled over again and the youko glared at his teammates, eyes flashing dangerously from a usually taciturn and thoughtful face.

"Go!" he snarled, baring fangs.

Cloud shrugged and took off without second thought, though Shizuru, sisterly affection kicking in, lingered anxiously. Her pale, cider-colored eyes grew soft and wide for a rare vulnerable moment and Alaster managed a smile.

"Better go, sis. Cloud will get ahead of you and ruin all your plans. You don't want that, right?"

She shook her head, but he felt her grin. "Don't get dead, baby bro," she ordered and dashed off to catch Cloud.

Alaster, having finally gotten his team to leave, turned back to his captive. Shield, stubborn, well-trained kind of shinobi that he was, had forced himself up already, sweat dripping down his face, the feathery wings on either side of his head quivering weakly as he staggered to his feet, hand about his neck.

"You – you're the son of the Fox Thief," Shield rasped painfully, corrosive pollens eating at his windpipe. His watering eyes met his, bafflement reflected in his gaze. "Why…are you…and her…with that dark angel? He's…a killer…they turn on you…everyone knows that."

Al rolled his sucker in his mouth a moment before realizing he'd sucked away all the candy and spat the stick out. "Oh, simple really. Cloud's keeping a promise he didn't keep a long time ago." The fox smiled, shrugging as he did. "And that's all."

Shield grimaced, but managed to turn the painful expression into a grin. "That's all," he repeated. "You may have tricked me once…but not again."

Maroon energy blazed up around his hands and the assassin whipped two blades into his hands. He lunged at Alaster, striking to kill and the youko met him head on with Rose Whip attack. Thorns grate on blade and the scene fades to black for now.

* * *

"SPIRIT GUN!"

_Ker-boom!_

The residual shock waves blasted out from the vocal point of contact, the giant orb of white blue energy, crackling and roaring as it sped trough the air, colliding with the reptilian menace. The giant, winged lizard shrieked and roiled wildly in the air as it struggled to withstand the Toushin's trademark attack, the unstoppable ball of power grinding into its pale, gold underbelly. Acid green scales flashed and glistened as it thrashed, throwing the battle-scarred earth into sharp relief.

The flickering light illuminated the dirty, sweat-soaked faces of Yuusuke's exhausted Ace platoon, all crouched or sprawled out beneath whatever stones or trenches provided cover from the monumental battle taking place only two hundred feet overhead. The youkais' previously desperate eyes brightened with victorious hope as their leader's brilliant azure energy ripped through the monster, ripping it apart molecule by molecule until nothing remained.

The troops leapt up, hooting and hollering in celebration, waving blades, bludgeons and whatever other weapons they'd managed to find after losing their standard issue armaments. Their tattered green and blue tunics, the colors of Yuusuke's soldiers, hung off battered, sweaty youkai wings, second arms and the occasional ningen-like demon among them.

Yuusuke Urameshi himself, having only just recovered from the recoil of his own attack, landed hard in the centre of the battleground, one knee slamming hard into the charred earth as he fell into a hunched crouch. The crimson glow of his usually care-free eyes had flared into a pair of churning lava pits in his darkly tattooed features as his face turned up into the light of his own attack. His long, untamed mane hung freely into his dirt smeared face, the green headband having long since burned in the dragon's fires.

"No," he croaked at his exuberant men. He lifted a battered and bleeding hand, the glow in his eyes breaking into the more human hue of dark wine. "Get down! Not yet! Get down you idiots!"

One of the more human-looking captains, one with several bat-like ears, heard him over the chaos and spun on his men, shouting orders. Too late…The lizard's long serpentine neck arched back even as Yuusuke's technique ripped it apart from the breast-bone down. In a dying attack it sucked in its last breath, air changing into explosive fire between its jaws before it spewed the last of its dragon fire into a final assault.

Yuusuke watched in horror as blood-red flames spilled out like a hellish flood across the ground, sucking up the bat-demon and his men in a fiery sea of heat and destruction. The youkai vanished in the waves of the deafening blaze, the searing heat blasting across the rest of the battlefield and slapping Yuusuke in the face like a final insult.

The dragon was gone…taking Ace platoon with it.

Yuusuke punched the dirt in a grievous rage, a ground shattering on contact. "Dammit!" he cursed furiously. "This is so…stupid!"

"It's that what you say about every Demon War?" inquired a familiar voice laughably.

The Toushin leapt up, spinning so fast his sneakers heated with the friction of his sudden about-face. His great spiced-cider eyes grew round in bewilderment, his fists (which he'd put up instinctively) falling just slightly. Standing across the battle feet, alighted casually atop the only standing stone for a quarter mile, hands shoved in his pockets wearing the same blue-white uniform from the Dark Tournament…was Touya the Ice Master.

The slender ice-demon hopped off the rock, landing gracefully on the torn ground and looking about with detached interest. Even from the distant Yuusuke could feel the distorted state of Touya's unmasked energies. The young shinobi's pupiless blue eyes traveled lazily back and forth as he sauntered toward the dark-haired demon-boy, his pale facial features distinctly amused if anything.

The ice demon halted in front of Yuusuke leaving a twenty foot gap of burned battlefield between them. The young ruler narrowed his eyes, the teardrop-like markings beneath his eyes drawing one's eyes to the terrifying glow of his crimson orbs…two fire brands bursting into flame.

"I notice," Yuusuke began, "you still haven't altered your stupid hairstyle in over a century."

Touya's lips broke into a neurotic grin, his mis-colored bangs sweeping into his empty blue eyes. "And you used the word 'altered' in the correct grammatical format. I'm very impressed, Yuusuke-sama."

"Why are you here, Touya?"

"To kill you?"

Yuusuke snorted. "Not likely, ninja-boy. In case you haven't noticed, I'm way out of your class. A inferior isn't it?"

"Intermediate, actually," corrected Touya, sliding into an attack position.

Blue energy began to hum about his skin, stirring his shinobi-style clothing in the currents of power. Yuusuke felt something cold kissed his shoulder and looked down in time to see a pale flake dissolve into a single drop of water. Before he could blink, the air was alive with a storm of white snow and the skies had darkened with black storm heads, ice slicing at Yuusuke's matted hair at a sharp angle. Goosebumps run up his tattooed spine as the temperature dropped to twenty below and Touya's aura expanded almost five feet about his slender frame.

The ninja looked like a living ice-sculpture at this point, twin ice scimitars encasing his arms that scratched the ice-covered dirt with vicious looking curved blade-tips. His skin had begun to glow with a silvery light, ethereal and almost angelic of not for the psychotic look on the warrior's face as he placed a bare foot on the charred skull of a fallen demon.

The bone shattered on contact like glass introduced to the cold too quickly.

"I don't have to be at your level to beat you, Yuusuke-sama," said Touya, voice waves distorted with his own power.

Yuusuke clenched his fists and his irises suddenly flooded with brilliant red energy while his aura blazed a navy blue so dark it nearly turned black. The dirt around him vaporized, leaving a ten-foot crater around him, melting the frost on the ground and filling the freezing air with steam as the snow hit his shields and evaporated. Soon the field filled with steam and cold mists obscuring both Emperor and ninja.

The ruler of the Third Realm lifted his arm, bracing his wrist with the other as a single bead winked into existence at his fingertip. He sighted slowly down the tip to focus on the blurry cloud of energy he knew Touya stood in the middle of.

"Don't make me kill you!" he shouted. "I'm your friend. I don't want to have your life on my hands, Touya."

The cloud of energy shifted slightly, flaring up as if for an attack and suddenly the ice began zipping into his face, penetrating his aura and stinging his face. Yuusuke tensed, gritting his teeth as the ice sliced his face and shoulders. "Kool-Aid!" he roared, the old nick-name falling from his tongue in an instinctive reflex. "I'm not your enemy! Don't make me do this!"

Touya's aura suddenly erupted and spat an angry swarm of shrieking ice shards, all hissing screaming toward Yuusuke with all the speed insanity can muster. The Emperor swore in both surprise and grief, body going rigid as he launched the devastating attack on the Ice Master. Even as he shouted the blue bullet of energy fired and ripped through the meager ice chips and blasted a merciless hole through the middle of Touya's aura and most likely straight through the ice-demon's belly.

The azure cloud of energy burst like a popped balloon. With a sinking feeling, Yuusuke recognized the familiar energy dissipation he'd seen from hundreds of his opponent's: the sudden outward radiation of the youki, the particle-like motes of spirit energy dwindling away…it all indicated the death of the owner. He knew…he killed demons like Touya all the time.

All the time…

As Yuusuke's arm fell with his heart, a sharp pang of righteous fury ignited inside his chest. Karasu…Karasu was responsible for everything, this especially and if Yuusuke could do nothing else, he'd make sure that disgusting vampire wannabe met the same fate he'd been forced to give Touya. Yuusuke squeezed his eyes shut, already imagining Jin's heart-broken expression when he had to tell him that his best friend was lying dead on the battlefield with a hole the exact size of Yuusuke's bullet thought his stomach.

"So stupid," he hissed as the snow around him began to dissipate. The temperature rose, increment, by increment as the frost steamed and hissed around him, melting rapidly without its master to maintain it in Yuusuke's energy. The Emperor gazed sadly around the sauna-like battleground, only just making out the surrounding destruction.

"Why couldn't you have waited, Kool-Aid? Just until all this was over?" he asked the dead shinobi softly. "Why?"

Then something stung his arm, surprising a sudden 'ow!' from the demon lord. Startled he darted away, to evade a second attack, snatching the offending projectile from his shoulder. He palmed it and stared down in shock at the tiny chunk of bloody ice and he knew without a shadow of doubt that the crimson staining that ice wasn't all his own and suddenly everything made sense and he cursed himself for forgetting the one thing Touya – like Kurama – lorded over him.

Deadly intellect.

"You know," Touya's disdainful voice laughed somewhere inside the fog. "I always _hated_ that nickname."

* * *

"JIN, LOOK OUT!"

"I know! I see 'im!"

The wind-elf vaulted over the attacking demon, springing up over the slow and clumsy youkai like scruffy orange alley-cat and using the monstrous demon's skull as an impromptu springboard. The Wind Master launched himself over the mass of swarming youkai on an effortless current of air and summoned a whining orb of trapped hurricane winds between his fingers and thrust it at the confused throng of enemy youkai.

The orb shrieked upon release like a loosed dragon and ripped through the first demon, reducing him to ribbons and shooting his armor into his fellows like grenade shrapnel, tearing through the infected platoon and leaving none left to stand against the wild redhead.

The elfish ninja dismissed the air current with a mental command and the air poofed back to its former stagnant variety of oxygen and the blue-eyed shinobi fell from ten feet to land soundlessly in the centre of the gory mess and on the only bloodless patch of earth for forty feet around. The trees around him looked as if they'd been painted by a crazed fringe artist with a passion for crimson.

"Oye," the demon said, hanging his head. "I dun think I kin be keepin' this oop fer much longer. I'm startin' t' feel bad fer th' poor dumb-clods."

Several masculine screams of pain reached the young ninja who looked up in time to see his accomplice bound into the glen, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the new foliage paint job.

Keiko fanned the air, making a face as she tried desperately to clear the air of the repulsive scent of death and disease. Her long, multi-colored hair had grown matted and tangled throughout the course of their battles and her comfortable, lavender blue kimono slowly turned a nasty shade of black. She was quick to tear off any fabric that grew too soaked with the infected blood of her enemies.

"Jin. This disease is only spreading faster," she said. "I watched two thirds of my men open fire on their own allies and they'd all only seen combat for forty minutes. The incubation time is growing shorter."

"Shite!" Jin cursed, punching his fist into his opposite palm. His brilliant blue eyes flashed with an unnamable emotion and Keiko shivered at the uncharacteristic expression. She hated it when Jin's eyes darkened like that…it mean that the world truly had gone to hell around them and even Jin – know for being cheerful and unshakably happy – had been sucked into the madness of it all.

"Jin," she said softly, placing a hand on the vulnerable curve of flesh along his shoulder and collarbone. "Please, don't lose hope, yet."

"Why nah?" he said angrily, looking sharply up at her and giving her such a despairing look that she realized just how deeply Touya's infection had wounded his optimism in the world. "Why should'nah be losin' all 'ope? Wha' 'ope we got left? Our own men are turnin' 'gainst us, the weakest demon kin get us wid' jus' one hit and we're losin' ground so fast we migh' as weel turn o're all our troopt t' 'em now!"

Then Keiko burst into tears.

_That_ stopped Jin cold.

"Stop it! Stop saying that, Jin!" she wept, her great auburn eyes growing unnaturally bright. "I can't stand it when you talk like that! You never talk like that! Even when you're losing, even when you were being beat you never gave up and you never said things like that! Don't do that to me now! Just don't!"

"Miss Keiko?"

"Shut up!"

"…"

Sniffles.

"Umm…"

"Hush! I can't listen to things like that right now." the Empress of the Third Realm said sadly. "I have enough trouble keeping myself sane during times like this. I can' t listen to you – the only person I can always depend on to be cheerful – talking like that. I just can't _take_ it."

"Bu' Keiko," Jinb said urgently, "there's…"

"Shh!"

"…bu'-,"

"Quiet!"

Jin slapped his forehead just below his horn and wound up his arm like a pro baseball pitcher, a howling ball of wind rushing in to fill his palm. He shouted and hurled the screaming ball of deadly air currents across the glen at high speed. "Be eatin' this yu sneaks!"

It exploded against a tree and twenty demons screamed in pain as they were launched into the sky, flipping and yelling profanities. Keiko's great brown and rose hued eyes grew very, very round indeed as the gang of enemy youkai took fry flying lessons across the Territory.

"Oh…" she said keenly.

Jin smiled crookedly at her, the old glow returning to his clear blue eyes. "Let's be getting' back t' the fortress 'fore we all look loike these lot o' doofs. We'd bes' be tyin' down th' hatches an' lockin' oop our doors and all tha' good stuff. Aye?"

Keiko, seeing his old spunk revived, smiled right back. "Right. I'll find Veil. You get to Yuusuke. Full retreat back to the fortress. We can hold them off from there."

"Now tha's th' smarts, Urameshi married!" whooped Jin.

Then he virtually bounced off the ground and spiraled up through the trees to find Yuusuke and Keiko took off through the trees like a woman possessed to locate the dragon General.

* * *

As the designated story teller, I'm choosing to ignore fifteen minutes of running in silence and skip ahead to the action. After leaving Alaster behind, Shizuru had to catch up to Cloud, you see and this took about seven minutes of the fifteen. Two minutes of their journey included mean name swapping and the last six were sustained silence. Oh, don't give me that look. Yes, I can see the all Rules of Correct Writing Style glaring at me from across the proverbial room. I know for a fact, readers would rather hear about the interesting part, so I'll get to it.

First of all, the second assassin didn't have half the finesse about her entrance as Shield did. No. In fact, if one had to describe it the first words that come to mind are commando style dive-bomb attack. But despite the lack of style the effectiveness could not be denied.

She pile-drove Shizuru in a tree.

Now, upon the attack, Cloud _did_ see something like a red and green blur that crashed into his least favorite female demon hunter and 'comrade'. But, unlike any other teammate Cloud didn't stop to help or even to check and see if the girl had survived the initial assault. Nuuuuu…of course not. He gave a little one shouldered shrug that translated as 'oh well' and kept running, Shizuru's scream of surprise ringing like a sweet note in his ears.

_Now,_ he thought to himself. _How to best get to Yuusuke's fortress without dying?"_

* * *

_He ditched me!_

Shizuru's first thoughts before her back crashed through a tree. Naturally, the contact between trunk and spine brought her back to the fight, but her indignation toward the dark angel knew no bounds. When Alaster got nabbed, he'd had the decency to shout a warning but when it came to her personal safety he just kept on running? She couldn't wait until all this drama played out to its final stupidity so she could finally hand the blond bomb-shell of a demon a serious can of whoop-ass.

But someone's fist introducing itself violently to herface brought her back to the present. The demon huntress felt knuckles crash into her cheekbone and knew without a doubt this cat had some intense shinobi training under her belt. (Yes, her belt. The prominent bulges digging into her ribs didn't often reside on male torsos.) The blow plowed her through yet another clump of saplings and straight into the ground, leaving her string up into the leaves overhead and wishing she'd paid more attention to Touya when he'd lectured her on hand to hand styles.

Unsheathing her long blades she stood up, adjusting her mask and channeling a hefty share of her energy into her weapons. Her ambrosia orbs ignited with white spirit energy and her senses spread out, awareness rippling from her skin like a sonic radar and immediately pin-pointing her opponent.

Who was standing directly overhead…

Shizuru flipped backward, grunting as she made the hasty retreat and watched with something like relief as a heavy combat boot pounded like a hammer into the ground her body had occupied, shattering the forest floor with a crater the size of a large kiddie-pool. A small, curvaceous demon sporting her twin's brown and blue hair color and winged ears stood up straight in the giant pot-hole, grinning wickedly up at the human girl.

"Howdy ho, my soon to dead amigo!" she crowed, sounding disturbingly like Touya. "I'm Blade and I'll be killing you today!"

Her eyes blazed a familiar maroon and she vanished, fluttering away in a misty afterimage. The air at Shizuru's back stirred and the girl spun, slashing for throat and hamstring with her blades, but the clever ninja merely hopped through the gap betwixt the blades and delivered a devastating jackknife to her belly. The huntress grunted and toppled back into the crater, shocked at the assassin's speed.

Shizuru rolled to the bottom of the hole; knives tucked close to her head down. Before she even stopped tumbling, she leapt to her feet, vaulting from the bottom of the pit and leaping a Matrix jump out of the ditch and into the treetops. She knew without a doubt she was far out of her league against this opponent who moved as fast as Hiei if not faster than the Jaganshi.

Well, duh, she berated herself. She's trained only in offensive techniques…but without her brother to defend her she should be totally defenseless. Without him I should be able to overwhelm her attacks…

Then Blade popped out of the tree beside her, fists flying for her masked face. Reacting on life-saving instinct, Shizuru blocked with her blades, horrified to see a shining set of iron knuckles about the demon girl's fingers, preventing her digits from a severe lopping by Shizuru's long-knives. She retreated, back, back, back as the super-fast assassin chased her from branch to branch, her big, girlish eyes filled with the insane light of the infected.

"Touya told me you've got a chip on your shoulder," laughed Blade as she landed a vicious axe kick to the demon huntress's sternum, rocketing her into the forest floor like a meteorite. "He said you used to have a crush on that waifish little dark angel over there until Karasu killed your baby bro. Do you really think taking it out on little Cloudy-kins will make you feel any better? Or are you trying to hide your guilt behind your anger? Whoops! I'm stealing Touya's words. Did you know that Ice Master is like a walking psychiatric book?"

Shizuru clutched her chest, her heart pounding frantically against her bruised ribs as she struggled to stand. The ninja alighted on the ground a couple yards off, planting her hands on her hips and posing like a model for 'Tom-boy Magazine'. Sporting a pair of bright blue pig-tails, obnoxious Tic-Tac orange overalls, boots and long rainbow arm sleeves she looked the picture of childish innocence. Like her brother, she looked stunning, classic rose lips, slanted blue eyes and a heart-shaped face of flawless skin.

Shizuru gasped, aching chest heaving as she reached for her dropped long knife. Huffing she lurched to her feet and pouted the blade at the second assassin, her eyes blazing with hatred deep as time.

"You," she panted. "Shut up…now."

Blade looked delighted with her opponent's choice of words. "Alright! Does that mean Touya read through all your little masks to the real issue? Wow, you must really suck a hiding your motives." She grinned. "Well, I guess I better kill you before Karasu gets to upset with me. He really hates Touya for defying his control you know. What a card!"

Shizuru laughed, the laughter coming out breathless and uneven. "All you…infected fighters," she snickered. "You're all so…weird."

The girl sheathed one of her blades and straightened up, face growing calm as she held up her remaining knife. Blade frowned at her, obviously perplexed by her actions. Shizuru closed her eyes, energy shimmering in the air around her as she wrapped a hand about the razor-sharp weapon and sliced her fingers open. Blood spilled from her wounded hand and the grim looking huntress smiled thinly.

"Blood spilled," she said softly. "Blood relations. Give me the blade to end my enemies."

Light blazed from her cut hand, radiant white energy slicing through the dark air like five splinters of pure sunlight from every finger. Shizuru smiled and gathered up the beams of light in her opposite hand, closing her hand about them and squeezing until they merged together and erupted from her clenched hands in a long arc of golden energy. She swung the blade, the air itself splitting and throwing two strong gusts into Blade's stunned face.

"Spirit Sword," she said with a wicked grin. "You may be a master of offense, but I'm a master spirit swordsman."

Blade raised her fist, face hardening as she braced herself for a serious battle whilst Shizuru smirked and took a very correct fighting stance.

"I have to kill you," Blade reminded her needlessly.

"Then I have to beat you senseless," Shizuru replied. "No hard feelings?"

"None at all."

Then the two shinobi trained females launched themselves at one another, golden sword cutting a swath of light through the forest as maroon fists punched through the radiance. Their energies exploded on contact and everything washed out from there.

* * *

_**Fade to black…

* * *

**_

**Author's Note: **_Yeah, I'm pretty much jumping from scene to scene like a bunny on crack, but I'm feeling inspired for these fights and I'd really like to get back to Karasu and Kurama. Next chapter we have the battle twixt Touya/Yuusuke and Cloud/Marionette. I've lost half my readers, but I really enjoy the mindless violence. Sqee!_

**Cloud8.9: **_Crazy. That's what you are._

**Cheezit**: _Hurry up! We have a million other things to start writing! The sequel to Ice Dreams of Fire is a major priority!_

**Me: **_Later my loyal readers! I shall return!_


	13. Laughing Hopeless

**Disclaimer: **I own everything…including your souls. So fork 'em over!

**Story Thus Far: **Alaster battles against Shield, Shizuru scraps with Blade, Touya's infected Yuusuke and the entire Third Realm slowly loses ground. Meanwhile, Kurama comes face to face with none other than his old nemesis, Karasu. What terrors can spawn from these dire circumstances?

Enjoy chapter 13!

**Laughing Hopeless**

"Are you hungry, Kurama-kun?"

"No."

"A shame. Everything in the Spirit Realm is exquisite."

"I'll take your word for it then."

He kept his face perfectly expressionless and his voice monotone, if not slightly blunt. Seated in a chair too large for him at the end of a table too huge to accommodate its two diners, the notorious kitsune quickly discovered the disadvantages of location behind enemy lines. For one, said enemy might catch you deep in enemy territory without allies to come swooping to the rescue. You found yourself completely at their mercy or worse…

He hadn't yet decided if this was worse.

Karasu, for the past five minute or so, had sated himself with merely watching the stoic redhead from the far side of the table, eyes dark with sadistic malice and familiar insanity. The silently burning candles floating about the room all cast eerie shadows across the heavy black jacket and myriad of silver and black buckles strapping his limber, figure. The kitsune remained unmoved for the most part.

However…

The soft shape of his mouth had become thin and strained, as if he'd swallowed a very bitter medicine and currently fought to keep it down. His exotic green-gold eyes, however, smoldered silently as he gazed upon his long-time enemy, back from the supposed grave. Yes, the fox looked very dangerous and, yes, he looked very good whilst he did so, but that didn't change that fact that Karasu had an S class youkai glaring at him across the room.

The fox youkai couldn't sense anything from the former Togoro team member. Not even a hint of energy and even his nose failed to alert him to anything peculiar. Through the mouth-watering aromas of the feast laid out before him, Karasu's scent came to him faintly, smelling mildly of ash, gunpowder, and burned lavender. He could not tell if the other demon possessed more or less spirit energy than himself or not.

It occurred to Kurama that Karasu might have positioned their individual place settings on opposite table ends more for his own safety than formality. Though Karasu possessed a deadly touch, Kurama had another century of experience under his belt and the quest demon knew better than to get too close too quickly. After all, unless he was willing to go toe-to-toe with Yomi…

…he wouldn't try it with Kurama.

Instead, the ebon-haired demon lounged comfortably at the opposite side of table, slicing separate sections of his meal into bite-sized portions and eating them with infallible table manners. He'd even accommodated Kurama with choice of Japanese style serving platter and chopsticks or American fork, knife and spoon. (A subtle threat in itself. Karasu knew he'd been living in America long enough to grow accustomed to their eating style) All manner of very appetizing dishes spread out in a colorful, almost decorative, display about him.

He didn't touch anything though, carefully keeping his hands folded in his lap. He sat casually, but carefully in his – admittedly comfy – chair, reclining with his head back against the headrest and as far back from any potential fumes as possible.

"So very tense, Kurama," teased Karasu. "Relax. Have some wine. Though, I do recommend the tempura."

The youko eyed him coolly. "I'd rather think clearly," was his even reply.

The black-haired youkai chuckled. "You've not changed at all over the decades. Though that pesky human shell of yours seems to have aged a couple years, it's still the same bright boy I fought over a century back. May I remark you look stunning for a demon of your age?"

"You may not."

To this Karasu merely smiled and continued eating. Kurama's ire stirred and the redhead's eyes slitted dangerously, a more Yoko trait then human. Unlike Yoko however, his next words carried no mocking cynicism or sarcasm; merely a bland curiosity with a hint of business-like projection.

"Why did you bring me here, Karasu? It's been over a century and I assure you I'm not the same fighter you met over a century ago," he informed the ebon-haired demon warningly. "I'm prepared."

"That's precious, Kurama-kun," laughed Karasu, taking a draught from his wine glass before going on. "But you can't hurt me a bit under these circumstances."

The fox demon lifted brow and laid an arm along the edge of the table, long dexterous fingers drumming the wooden surface idly. Karasu watched him shift with an unreadable expression of both fascination and hatred. A disturbing mixture to be sure, but the redhead would not let himself fall prey to intimidation tactics as he had so long ago.

"Really? What pray tell is preventing me from taking your head off right now? Do you doubt I'm capable?"

"Never, Kurama-sama," Karasu said, appalled. "Your exploits place you in a far higher class than I. Now, the question is do _you_ think your capable of destroying me. Are you stronger? Better? Smarter? Superior to me?"

Kurama leaned his elbows on the table, folding his slim fingers together in front of his face, hiding the lower part of his expression from view. Only his vibrant gold-green eyes, spliced with Yoko and Suiichi, narrowed thoughtfully. Between the two passed a dark moment of twisted understanding and Karasu smiled his most vampirish grin. Kurama had obviously thought on this subject long and hard before. Now his ponderings would be called into the limelight.

The fox demon closed his eyes. "No…No I'm not."

"Then why did you beat me last time?"

"The circumstances favored me then," came Kurama's simple reply.

Karasu placed his wine glass beside his plate and bared pearly teeth in a very predatory smirk, lavender eyes glinting with anticipation. "Pray tell. I'm curious to know how they favored you then and not now. Then, when I was stronger than you, faster and better prepared. How did you beat me? Twice no less. Tell me."

"You were…are…at a disadvantage," Kurama answer cryptically.

"Yes?" Karasu pressed. "Such as what? I had you in my hands more than once and yet you still win. It's tormented my sleep for over a century. What prevents me from killing you like I have everything else? What is my disadvantage?"

"You're insane."

The final conclusion his words led up to came out somewhat blunt, matter-of-factly and down right acidic. The kitsune's brilliant irises, splinters of pale moon gold scattered through the rings of emerald, glittered with barely hidden distaste. Karasu leaned back in his seat, pursing his lips and making a low humming sound at the back of his throat. He traced a long, clawed finger around the rim of his glass, prompting the crystal glass to sing appreciatively under his touch.

Kurama didn't seem keen on wasting more time however. He lowered his hands.

"Why are you working for Enma?" he asked flatly. "It's fairly obvious that's what's going on. You're infecting and destroying Yuusuke's kingdom from the inside out."

"Very clever Kurama. Did my dear pet, Touya tell you so? Yes. Of course he did," Karasu mused aloud. "You should be proud. That young ninja had grown into quite the worthy fighter thanks to your words. He admires you very much, you know."

"I'm curious about something," Kurama continued, ignoring the quest demon's commendable words on his ninja victim. He propped his chin atop his knitted fingers, expression perfectly neutral. "All those years back, when you came back and kidnapped me with the Kistune Flute. Who was it really that brought you back? Did you come after me as a…bonus for something perhaps?" The corner of his mouth turned up delicately. "Well, Karasu?

The demon smiled thinly, a gossamer veil of black hair slipping over his narrow shoulders to trail like silk strings along the table top, sucking up the light and throwing none back into the air for the eyes of others. His pale complexion, even from this distance looked corpse-like to the youko and he carefully picked up a thin, razor blade from the rim of a sushi dish beside him.

Tapping a finger delicately against the blade he finally answered. "Since you've thought on this some decades now, I suppose I could tell you," he consented mildly. A malicious gleam entered his gaze, making his sensuous amethyst eyes glow a hellish violet-red.

"You won't live long enough to appreciate it though."

Kurama shifted and sat back, listening intently and looking for all the world like an attentive student. However, behind those many faceted eyes, his quick mind raced in a hundred different directions, all speed, zooming and thinking as he struggled to come to terms with his situation and figure the most efficient means of escape. Karasu's information would prove helpful, if the demon possessed enough sanity to keep the facts straight, but ultimately, the red-head's goal consisted of escaping and finding the quickest means to reach and aid Yuusuke.

He knew now…he was the only one who could.

* * *

Yuusuke looked away from his bloody fingers, auburn eyes moving up to look at Touya's cold and smiling features. The pale blue nimbus about his body siphoned about his arms, sending sporadic bursts of azure energy through the air around him. His solid blue eyes, frozen in a perpetual grin of merciless insanity, made his youthful appeal ugly and creepy like a broken clown doll. The violent snapping wind produced by his energy tore at his hap-hazard bangs, throwing his comfortable shinobi clothing back and forth.

"Touya," the young ruler said softly, beseeching. "Touya. You've got to snap out of it. Karasu's controlling you. You don't want to do this."

"Of course I don't," the ice demon laughed, aura simultaneously spitting blue whorls of frosty power across his forearm, encasing the limb in misty blue ice. He dropped into a sudden crouch, knees out, chin raised and tilted to the side in a cat-like pose of tactful thought. "But what I want doesn't matter anymore."

"This is suicide Touya."

"I've already won," the Ice Master giggled horribly. The grin on his face made him look like psychotic child. "That dart cut my hand as I released it. My blood is yours and so is my disease. You'll understand why I can't help myself soon enough, lord Yuusuke."

"So you're not going to kill me, is that it? You're just here to watch." Yuusuke said scathingly, spiky mop of dark hair obscuring his eyes, fangs bared in a painful grimace. He clenched his hand, knotting stained fingers into a fist. "Just like Karasu. Always dramatic and sadistic."

Touya stood up; brows raised in a perplexed expression as the young lord made no move to rise with him, remaining crouched in the blackened earth. The former Tantei made a low growling noise that Touya deciphered as a laugh, deep, demonic and bitter. He turned his face toward the slighter, infected youkai, smiling spitefully at the blue-eyed ninja as his wiry shoulders rose and fell, trembling with laughter.

"You're strong, so I know that's not the insanity laughing," remarked Touya acidly, eyes narrowing with uncharacteristic coldness for one possessed my Karasu. He lifted his hands, blue energy swirling. "What are you planning?"

"It's simple really…" Yuusuke said. His eyes flashed and in those dark orbs burned twin furnace flames. "Jin may not have the heart to kill you…but I won't have you killing my friends and family."

The ice demon smiled insanely.

"I already have."

Yuusuke just stared.

"I only just handed Kurama into the hands of Enma and sent your daughter to the afterlife, the disease boiling in her blood." Touya paused, examining the Toushin, who'd gone still and silent. "You know…as she collapsed in that street I'll bet she was cursing her demon blood. If she'd had just a trace left of human in her…true human…she might have lived."

"Bastard."

Touya flinched.

In that time it had taken him to blink, Yuusuke had relocated himself and seized Touya by the throat. His long, steely claws trembled with rage, slicing thin lines in the pale flesh along the ice youkai's throat. The dark tattoos lining his features glowed with inky light, undulating and pulsing erratically with his rage and infection. His long fangs bared themselves as he hoisted the slender ice demon into the air by neck and holding him there.

"I could crush you," he rumbled, vocal cords trembling as they fought to become the throat of a true youkai, bestial and animalistic. "I should crush you. I want to…but I can't. Because he wants me to and I can never let him control me. Not like he's controlling you, Touya."

"He'll control you no matter what you try. Might as well kill me," the shinobi gasped, thin fingers grappling uselessly with his captor's iron fingers. He smiled through his pain. "Kill me."

Yuusuke paused, his blood red demon glow dwindling, his spirit sensing something changing within Touya's temperament. The young ninja struggled; face contorting as if in terrible pain. His eyes cracked open, his features turned sour and taunt with agony. The once icy blue orbs glowed entirely with sick maroon and lavender light, Karasu's familiar poisonous energy seeping into the air through Touya's tortured body.

He forced his head aside, Yuusuke's claws punching through the thin flesh of his neck, red blood welling up and running like water freely down his pale neck. He gripping Yuusuke's wrists tightly, eyes wild, rabid, like those of a desperate animal.

"Kill me! Kill me, Yuusuke!" he hissed. "You have to!"

The Toushin drew back. "Kurama wouldn't kill you and Jin wouldn't either! I won't give in! Karasu wins if I do."

Touya collapsed in the dirt, icy mist coiling about his trembling body like silken gauze too fine to hold a form. His fingers coiled into a tight ball. He lifted his glowing eyes from the battle torn ground, his haunting blue gaze flickering with lavender light.

"Damn you…all of you. Things would be so much easier if you would just listen to me for once," he murmured, skin crackling as ice splintered about his flesh, jutting up from the ground only to fall apart with his lack of concentration.

He hugged himself and shivered violently and for a moment Yuusuke saw what everyone who knew Touya had always imagined seeing. Touya…vulnerable, his face pale and open as a rainbow of different emotions flitted across his deceptively youthful countenance. He trembled, body going suddenly into violent convulsions, racking his slighter frame. He cried out and doubled over, clutching his head and groaning through tightly clenched teeth.

Yuusuke paused, his crimson brown eyes flickering uncertainly. This seemed…_weird_. Weirder than all the other shit Touya had been hurling at him for the last couple minutes. The Toushin took an experimental step toward the ice demon who moaned, hanging his head like he might puke at any moment and looking genuinely miserable.

He paused. "Umm…Touya?"

"It's time then," the smaller demon gasped. He twitched spasmodically and went back to his original position. "I knew it couldn't last forever. I'm not strong enough to last forever. I guess I should be happy…"

"Kool Aid?"

Touya lifted his haggard face and smirked at the Toushin, a rare expression even for the real Touya yet…_right_ somehow.

"Hello, Yuusuke-san."

With that simple greeting everything else melted away. Abandoning his doubts Yuusuke dashed to the fallen ice demon because after all, if he'd already been infected then Touya really couldn't do him much more harm than that. He fell on his knees beside the familiar shinobi and seized his thin shoulders pulling the slighter youkai upright.

Touya reached up and gripped his wrists, his solid blue eyes completely, wonderfully, expressionless and business-like. He frowned as if perplexed by Yuusuke show of emotion.

"Yuusuke. The cure is a flower. Dreaming Bell," he said, voice cool and calm.

Totally in control. Nothing sadistic, twisted or insane about him, nothing but genuine icy Touya the frigid bastard goodness.

"The pollen merely needs to enter the lungs and the effects of Karasu's 'nightmare syndrome' will vanish and…and why are you looking at me like that? This is important. You have to tell the others before you become ill as well. Are you listening, idiot?"

Yuusuke for the life of him could not wipe the stupid, happy grin off his face. "You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you call me an idiot. How did you break free of the sickness? Do you have the flower?"

"No," Touya sighed. "I – ahh!" He broke off, clutching his head.

The Toushin caught the smaller demon, eyes wide. "Touya! Touya, what's wrong?"

"I'm not cured…I'm going into the final stage. I'll slip into a coma shortly, so you'd best listen to me before I do," Touya informed him, outrageously calm as he made the horrific statement.

"_WHAT_?"

"Shut up and listen to me. You need to get to Spirit World Headquarters and find Kurama. He can grow the flower and spread it all over the Makai, but you've got to move quickly." He reached into his tunic and pulled out a slip of paper. "It looks like this. So if you have any healers left ask them if they have this flower. You might save your men if you have a good plant manipulator in your ranks."

Yuusuke took it numbly. "But…Touya…"

"I didn't kill her."

The young ruler blinked. "What?"

"Your daughter…she's…alive," Touya's eyes fluttered and he sagged, falling forward into the other demon's startled arms. He shook himself and sat back up, swaying. "I lied to…you. She's alive…get her…the cure."

"Thank you, Touya," the Toushin bit his lip.

"Just…tell Jin…I'm sorry."

Touya sat back, leaning over his knees and closing his pale blue eyes. A silent 'get lost you idiot'. Yuusuke took to the sky, knowing Touya didn't want him to waste anymore time standing around. Touya felt the world tip dangerously and hugged his knees tightly to keep from falling over.

He reflected, before darkness took his thankfully into silence on just how much he _hated_ it when they called him 'Kool-Aid'.

* * *

Veil of the Chinese Dragon Demon Clan and General of the Third Realm never ran from the enemy. Never. The pursuit of keeping this record perfect made him downright rabid in a melee and by the end of his battle the draconic youkai came to realize a scenario in which he had not considered before. As thousands of needle sharp barbs swarmed through the air about him like a living swarm of pet bees, guided by his dragon youki, he found himself surrounded on all side by enemy youkai.

And every single one of them bore Yuusuke's banner hues on their armor.

Grimly, the dragon battled on as his own men turned coat and attacked the only uninfected being on the battle field. They came at him in waves, breaking over his swirling shield of metal barbs like water against a particularly spiky rock. Blood sprayed everything, soaking the ground crimson as demons threw themselves into the flesh shredding blizzard of metallic death.

The lone General burned the blood away from his flesh with his natural dragon heat, boiling it away before it could find a spot on his sable skin to soak. He gazed with frustrated eyes at the carnage and mindless kamikaze attacks of his own disciplined and loyal troops. He wanted to get away from them, spare them death until a cure could free them but he knew he could not risk them coming to the fortress and adding to the enemy number.

He had to kill them all.

His hands clenched tightly about his twin saber blades, glistening with a black iridescent sheen shared only by the scales of his ancestor dragon kin. The treasured weapons could not be destroyed by anything method of demon or spirit alike.

He prayed not to use them against his own men. His Talon Swarm technique did damage enough.

"NEVERMORE!" screeched a voice wildly. He jerked his head up, golden lizard eyes narrowing as a familiar harpy messenger hurled herself at him, mouth yawning in a wild scream. She pulled up sharply, suddenly and angled herself over the youkai, her mouth growing wider and wider and wider…

He started.

"Oh shit…"

He had no time to get away before she sucked a breath and loosed the most hideous, nerve rending, ear-drum popping sound ever heard by ningen, demon or spirit. Veil fell to his knees, blades clattering to the dirt as he clutched his ears, fingers buried in his flaming hair as he tried to block out he mind scrambling noise. He felt his control slipping as the sound sought to drive him insane. He struggled, struggled, to maintain…to hold himself…to keep his brain…from shattering…

She ran out of breath…

…and died, plunging from the sky to fall earthward, having expending the last of her power in her last attack. Veil moaned, trying to orient himself as the sky, the ground and air spun together in an indistinguishable blur, morphing everything into a giant pinwheel of reality, whirling in the wind.

She'd just Screeched him and damned if he could even stand up straight after an attack like that.

He cursed his luck as his muscles quaked and gave out beneath him, dropping the young demon on his flank, limp and helpless. He shivered, suddenly cold in the silence around him, his ears temporarily ringing. He felt the strongest demons recovering from the harpy Screech. They lurched toward him, diseased breathe ragged from bloody and fanged jaws. They crawled over the piles of dead surrounding the fallen General and descended upon him like rabid jackals to a kill.

Veil swallowed his moment of fear as the familiar face of his platoon captain loomed over him; his golden orbs darted from her lustful green eyes to the hungry expressions of her toon members. The disease made the B-class female youkai's deepest darkest desires and emotions come to the surface, the other C-class merely turned into killing machines. They wanted to kill him…she wanted to torture him.

She spun on her allies and blasted them to bloody scrapes, their smoking flesh raining across the battlefield. She smiled brokenly and turned her attentions back to Veil, helpless before her. She'd always hated him for being so emotionless, so strong and unattainable to her. She'd give sway to her desires now. Veil struggled to move but his body felt like lead, vulnerable, unguarded lead.

"Veil-chan," she gargled.

He closed his eyes, waiting to die.

"Not so strong now are you?" she spat, her frayed brown tresses tickling his forehead as she hissed in his ear. Her hand seized his throat and applied pressure, squeezing the windpipe mercilessly. He choked, trying instinctively to breath. She smiled in ecstasy as he fluttered under her violent touch. "That's right. Try to breathe, dragon-boy. It hurts doesn't it, little raven? Doesn't it?"

She shook him.

"Answer me! You always ignore me! My soul from out of that shadow!" she sputtered, spittle dribbling from her lips, the mad poetry taking hold in her mind. "That lies floating on the floor…shall be lifted nevermore! Nevermore! You'll scorn me! No more, Veil! Nevermore!"

He felt his mind slipping away, darkness closing in on him. To die like this…He'd never imagined, but no matter a warriors prowess a single moment of coincidence can kill them. He'd learned that but never believed it applied to him until now. Maybe his sensei would forgive him for his arrogance…

_Shizz-it!_

Blood…the scent of blood!

Veil's eyes snapped open as those brutal fingers left his throat, yanked away by some unseen force. Everything looked so foggy and blurry, but those hands had gone and he sucked a hungry breath, his starving lungs greedily accepting the air denied them. He still couldn't move, lying on his back coughing and gasping as feeling slowly wormed back into his limbs, the sensation of a hand against his forehead, a coolness spreading from the touch.

Suddenly the paralysis from the Screech attack dissipated and his eyes began to clear. Blinking the dragon youkai sat up and grabbed his saber immediately, hopping into a wary crouch and backing away from the darkly garbed youkai in front of him, eyes refusing to believe what he saw. To his blurred eyes a dark winged figure with bright hair had just saved him. For a moment he deliriously wondered why another dragon youkai had come to find him.

An illusion! It had to be! Trickery! His vision cleared somewhat and he saw the demon, in fact, had black bird wings, not the leathery membrane of draconic kin. His hair had no red in it, only a wild blond and his eyes blood red instead of gold. He knew what this creature really was…but once again had trouble believing.

"Who are you?" he rasped, throat still aching.

"The one who just saved you, dragon demon," was the peeved reply. "I thought dragon youkai were extinct."

"And I thought shadowkai kept to the Unlit," the ebon-skinned demon shot back.

The dark angel shifted uncomfortably, edging away from the bleeding stump where the captain's head had once resided on her shoulders. "We do. I'm just not popular back home. Point is, you're not infected and I'm not infected and that puts us on the same side doesn't it?"

Veil thought he sounded too sure of himself. "I don't know," he said suspiciously. "What's a dark angel doing in this war? Causing trouble?"

"Fighting one of Kumuro's assassins," he replied with a shrug. "But there's still one more out here so I'm heading to Yuusuke's keep to try and hold ground. Unless you stop me of course."

"At this point, I don't care," Veil huffed. His golden eyes feinted to the left, over the demon's shoulder. "Umm…your last assassin have silver hair, white eyes, gray skin and made a really weird humming sound?"

"Dammit," sighed the dark angel. He turned around to see Veil's point of view.

About fifty feet in front of them, ten feet up hovered a strange humanoid being. Dressed in a simple white haori and totally unarmed the new comer looked like a harmless demon around twenty-ish in human measurements. His expressionless and life-devoid alabaster eyes fell upon the pair with mechanical suddenness. His long silver hair haloed his pale too-symmetrical face like a cloud of liquid, a buzzing hum like an engine purr originating from him.

"Are you Cloud of the Unlit?" he asked; voice young and emotionless, like a computer recording.

Cloud, his name apparently, threw up his hands in exasperation looking theatrically pissed off. "The godsdamned _robot_ gets my name right! What is _wrong_ with my name dammit?"

"I am Marionette. I have orders from master Kumuro to eradicate you and your companions," the literal killing machine went on.

Here the mechanical assassin turned his attention to Veil who groaned. _Naturally_ it had orders to kill companions, none specifically, but any vague 'companions' in the area at the time. Namely him. The dragon demon wondered why the Fates hated him so. Veil's head hurt. He glared at the blond waif demon who brought this trouble upon him and the shadowkai sighed apologetically.

"Help me fight him?" the shadowkai inquired hopefully. "Consider it pay back?"

"Damn you," sighed the dragon demon. "Should have left me dead and spared me this crap."

The two strangers turned to face the former guardian of Mukuro turned assassin. Veil's fallen barbs leapt airborne and swirled about his body like mini planets orbiting his aura. Cloud ran fingers through his wings, selecting two pinions feathers to serve his needs. They morphed into a set of hooked katana-like blades and he set himself up to fight, wings poised to take flight.

"To the air?" Veil inquired.

"Yup."

They took off, leaping into the wind as Marionette's power cell sent energy racing through his artificial eyes. He raised his hands and white light blazed from his palms igniting the skies with deadly power. The two dark winged demons glanced at each other and couldn't help but smile as the S-class power raced up from the ground in the form of two living whips of lightening and steel, attached at the wrist to Marionette's arms.

The assassin flicked his wrists. The two whips struck the ground and trees fell from their trunk, slicing through like thin pocky sticks at snack time. Pupiless, soulless white eyes rose to gaze upon his twin targets.

"No escape," Marionette told them.

"Nope," they chorused…and plunged at the machine in a wild double kamikaze dive.

* * *

Keiko screamed as the main gate cracked and splintered, threatening to cave in for the billionth time in the last twenty minutes. Jin raced over from the other side of the fortress to barricade the failing door with his wind, bracing it with hurricane currents and holding it stable. A couple earth demons tried to cover the door with rock, but failed to do more than pile dirt halfway up the giant entryway.

"Aye. S'not lookin' terribl'y broight is it?" Jin, bleeding from a minor head wound, said with a weak grin.

Keiko, energy quickly depleting shook her head wearily and flashed him a giant, totally ungenuine smile. "What are you talking about? We've practically won! Look! They've only busted through our outer walls and left a quarter of our men. It's almost an unfair match up."

Jin nodded thoughtfully. "I guess yer right," he agreed heartily, smiling right back. He blue eyes sparkled dimly. A ghost of his former happiness.

All the troops within hearing distance, a motley, bruised, ragged lot of Yuusuke best, brightest, quickest, luckiest or most cowardly fighters all laughed hopelessly along with their commanding officers, knowing that surrender meant death. Knowing that accepting defeat would only get them killed and no form of typical treason to gain favor with the enemy would work this time.

Together they would stand and together they would fall. Of this they were certain.

Botan raced tirelessly from one end of the medic tent to the other, frantically using up what of her healing powers she had left, bandaging, patching, sewing and mopping as she went. Her pale blue hair had fallen out of its neat pony-tail to bounce about her shoulders and stick to her sweat soaked forehead. The dead she shoved out of the tent to make way for the injured that poured in from the walls.

Soon they'd have to retreat to the inner chambers.

"Minna, hon would you hold this basin for me?" Botan asked gingerly.

The tiny winged girl nodded energetically, entranced by the pain, death and excitement of battle seething around her. Her oil black eyes watched the frantic ferry-girl move amongst the dying with hypnotic interest. In her hands, between the said basin and her small clawed fingers, she clutched a sweet smelling white flower, like the one she'd given Jin after Karasu hit him in the neck.

"Nevermore, nevermore. My soul shall rise nevermore. Never to clasp Lenore. Nevermore!" she sang, dancing and spinning, spilling water on the blood soaked stone and washing the thick red grime away.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yeah I know, I suck and I need to update faster to make up for my suckiness. But don't worry I have a head start on the next chappie and I expect it up very soon…no I'm serious this time!

Cloud8.9: Whatever, you little liar.

Cheezit: You're hopeless. You start fics and then lose interest and forget all about it.

Me: (raspy because she has whooping cough) But I wuv meh Inuyasha fwiccy…Sesshomaru is so kewl!

Cloud8.9: Get to work you slacker! Move! (hits her with pocky sticks) Hey, these are bad! (eats)

All: (eat pocky sticks)


	14. The Politics of Genocide

**Disclaimer: **I own the plot and if you steal that I _will_ hunt you down and kill you

**Story Thus Far: **Yuusuke is infected, Touya is a statue, Jin and Keiko fight to protect the fortress against overwhelming odds while Botan tries to calm an oddly antsy Minna. Veil and Cloud have met and Marionette is giving them hell to pay and Kurama…we'll see about that.

Enjoy chapter 14!

**The Politics of Genocide**

-blah-

"Look out!"

_Shizz-iiit!_

A guttural curse leapt from the dark angel's tongue as that deadly whip of energy licked his ankle, tearing through flesh and spraying blood, before instantly cauterizing the wound with the heat. Something else tore through his left wing, not hurt so much as yanking him to the side and knocking his wings out of sync. The winged demon spun mid-air, plummeting awkwardly toward the earth in a blizzard of tattered black plumage, dizzy with the pain.

A strong hand seized his shoulder and yanked him back up and around, righting him in the air while tugging him to safety. He blinked muzzily, feeling strangely warm and somewhat fuzzy and unable to really figure out why. He recognized the dragon demon he'd recently saved cursing something dreadful, yanking him out of Marionette's deadly range.

"Wake up! Hey!"

He groaned. "My…head…"

"Damn! You're useless when you're poisoned!"

"Huh?"

"Marionette hit you with a poison dart remember?"

"Oh yeah." The blond demon blinked, his eyes slowly clearing as his body neutralized the would-be fatal toxins. "Can…you let go of me?"

The dragon demon's reply dripped sarcasm, his acid yellow eyes slitted and aggravated. Cloud and he had found themselves locked in deadly combat with the high-class youkai killing machine for almost fifteen minutes now. In that time Cloud had managed to forcibly remove one of Marionette's mechanical arms, but paid the price when the assassin blindsided him with a poisonous dart. The effect was something like getting really, stupid drunk.

"I don't know. Will you fall out of the sky if I do?"

"No." He frowned. "I'm good now."

"I thought Marionette poisoned you."

"He did…shadowkai are immune to poison."

The dragon said nothing for a long, envious moment. "Damn. Some demons get all the luck."

Cloud replied by grabbing the slender youkai's flaming red head and shoving it down as Marionette's lightening whip snapped through the now vacated air. The two demons hovered there a moment, watched at the gray-skinned automaton glided through the air toward them, alabaster eyes unfeeling, totally emotionless as he readied his weapon for another round of blinding whip-work.

Veil released the blond and hurled his arm at the machine, his swarm of metal barbs sweeping around to arrow down toward the enemy. Cloud followed suit, launching several transmogrified feathers at him, hoping to pierce that metal exterior and puncture some kind of critical mechanism inside the puppet creature.

Marionette raised a glowing arm and the first couple rows of metal barbs disintegrated before Veil withdrew. Cloud's feathers fared better, punching through the arm…but doing absolutely no damage to the final assassin despite. The two demons drew close combat weapons and lunged at the living doll, trying to get near enough to do some serious…

That deadly whip crackled and they both narrowed dodged the hungry whip. Veil cursed as the snake-like weapon bit into his chest, slicing a shallow cut across his torso and exposing his blooding skin. His heavy black wings pumped, sending him high into the air, clutching his body in pain. Cloud used his feather saber to defect a vicious attack, refusing to let himself get struck again.

"Give up," Marionette said tonelessly.

Cloud glared. "No."

Sable energy swirled down his arms, funneling across his pale skin like black snakes until they pooled in his fingers. He rolled the energy between his palms like he would a ball of clay. It grew and grew, crackling in his hands, spitting black sparks, humming with power. Marionette watched him, sensors picking up the levels of dark energy in the sinister looking orb. Cloud finished rolling it and hefted it like baseball.

Marionette, so focused on taking in data on the super-powered shadowkai, actually didn't see Veil's attack until a giant, flaming globe of magma splattered over his left thigh, hissing and eating into the metal. The living doll turned blank eyes to stare up at the dragon demon, almost irritated, then wiped the glowing yellow ooze from his grayish skin. It hardly looked blackened.

But then Cloud popped up right next to the machine and crammed the black orb deep into the mess of wiring and artificial flesh where the robot's arm had been. Marionette lashed the shadowkai with his whip, ripping a chunk of black feather from the demon's wings and sending the waifish youkai plummeting for the dirt. Everything became a blur of whirling colors, blood red sky, charred earth, explosions of dragon-fire overhead, and his own ebony plumage. He closed his eyes, waiting for impact.

Nab!

Veil had him by the arm again. Cloud smiled dizzily.

"Crazy-ass, shadowkai," grumbled the dragon demon. "That things still alive, but I don't think it'll be coming after us."

Cloud blinked. "Umm…good."

"Come on. I'm getting back to the castle before I get myself infected. That front gate won't last very long if we don't get them some reinforcements," he said, hooking a thumb toward the tall, stony towers and ramparts of Yuusuke's fortress. Below him, Cloud spotted the sparking remains of Marionette, his metal torso exploded from the inside out, twitching pieces of gray material scattered everywhere. But the head and face continued to watch them, cold and unfeeling.

Cloud pulled his eyes away, gaze draw to movement on the side of the clearing…someone was coming through the foliage. Cloud started, leaping higher in the air as a thick wave of power washed over him, the sheer overpowering aura filling the clearing with S-class power so potent that even the dark angel, who grew up among S-class demon felt a chord inside him tremble.

Then, a familiar, ragged, spiky-haired demon-boy stumbled through the trees, falling clumsily over a dead limb and cursing colorfully. Veil's ears pricked at the sound and he glared down at the edge of the clearing, spotting the battered Toushin immediately.

"Yuusuke! You slug! Where have you been?" he growled angrily. He flew down and landed beside the cursing Toushin. "I thought you'd be back in a couple minutes, not a couple hours. What happened to you?"

The former Spirit Detective sighed and sat down hard, laughing without mirth. "I ran into Touya."

Veil's expression didn't change. "Is he dead?"

"Somewhere in between, but he managed to tell me something important," the demon lord said soberly.

He reached up suddenly and grabbed the dark-skinned demon, seizing his slim wrist and pulling the winged youkai down next to him. He slapped something into the dragon demon's palm, curling his fingers about it like a treasure. Cloud blinked, feeling awkward as the two comrades spoke softly. Veil stared down at the pale, crumpled object in his hand, a sheet of scroll paper by the look of it. He seemed…somehow less fiery than before.

"Then…you won't be coming back to the castle?"

"No. You have to tell them."

Veil clutched the paper. His expression remained rigid, totally emotionless, but Yuusuke smiled at his second in command, knowing better. The dragon stood up and turned back to Cloud, who waited, feeling out of the loop and not caring. For the last couple days his entire life had consisted of waiting for other people to lead him, use him, or order him around about affairs he only half understood. At least now he didn't have to listen to Shizuru.

Yuusuke caught sight of the shadowkai suddenly, eyes lighting up with recognition.

"Hey…I remember you," he said, sitting up straight. "Back on the cruise ship with Shizuru…"

"A long time ago," Cloud said shortly. "She's around here somewhere. We heard you were in trouble."

"Is…Alaster with you guys?" he asked tentatively.

The dark angel nodded. Yuusuke looked withdrawn for a moment. "Promise me you'll get him to Botan before all this is over."

Cloud blinked. "Sure."

Veil caught his arm. "We've got to go. Yuusuke doesn't have much longer. They need us at the gate."

Cloud stared at the Toushin, so changed from the last time he'd seen him, a fourteen year old human boy with exceptional spiritual powers, now an Emperor of the Third Realm. The exhausted demon leaned back against a broken piece of rubble; Cloud could sense the disease stirring in the young lord's blood, seeping into his energy, his sanity. Fate had their back on this one. If they hadn't arrived in time to receive the information from him, Yuuske's message would have never reached the castle.

Cloud and Veil took to the air, wings pumping and pulling the two winged youkai into the blood-red skies. Lightening striking and illuminating the nightmare, stretched out forever before them…

…stretched out forever before them.

* * *

Shield hit the ground…and Alaster tumbled over right after.

The young fox demon groaned, pain eating away at his senses, red hot lines of pain crisscrossing his bruised and battered body like tires tracks across his pale flesh. His once clean white robes hung off his slender frame like rags, shredded, stained with blackened dirt, charcoal and blood, both his and his opponent's. He lay there in the dirt, panting, sensitive ears flat against his skull and whined softly, hugging himself and just sitting there, regaining his breath.

_I'm infected._

The thought brought tears to his wine-red eyes. The sickly sweet tang of infected blood clung to his clothes, his hair, his skin and the ground around him, Shield's final trump card when he realized Alaster's superior battle strategy would eventually win out. Shield cut his own arm and threw himself on the youko, smearing him with the deadly fluid until the fox looked more red than silver.

The silver-haired hanyou managed to roll onto his side, his body aching, his head reeling. Hot tears cut glistening paths through the blood and filth slathered across his usually ethereal face. He couldn't help it. The young demon hugged his knees and buried his face in his arms, letting himself sob, slim shoulders trembling with every gentle cry. He didn't care how weak it looked, how pathetic.

If he was about to die anyway…what did it matter?

He hiccupped. Lifting his face out of his bleeding and battered arms, he wiped messily at his cheeks, trying to wipe away the wetness. Something inside him steeled itself, hardened and suddenly the young kitsune refused to just sit down and die. Alaster gritted his teeth and shoved himself to his feet, staggering a moment before clutching the heavy gash on his left arm.

He glanced down at his defeated opponent, unconscious, wrapped from head to foot in creeper ferns from Shizuru's potted plants back home. He momentarily thought of home, the familiar pit in his stomach reminding him how much he wanted to get all this over with, find Shizuru and go back to the shinobi.

Then he immediately thought of Touya and shook it off. No! He would not sit idly by and hope someone could make everything better! His father wouldn't Shizuru wouldn't and gods damn it, even Cloud wouldn't so neither would he! The kitsune stumbled forward, moving with a long, gentle lope through the forest, heading toward the fortress with the vaguest of plans to somehow help them hold their own.

He didn't have to do anything dramatic like throw his injured, battered body into the middle of the enemy camp, or run head into the evil horde leader or anything stupid like that, but he had himself convinced he could at least make some subtle sneak attacks on the unwary and diseased enemy. No risk of getting infected himself right? After all, despite having Shield's blood in his veins, he still felt pretty darn goo-

Thud!

"Oof!"

"Owie!"

Alaster blinked, wondering what or who on earth he'd just crashed into. He sat back on his knees, moving one clawed hand up to rub his aching head, ears flicking back in pain. Something small and warm punched his knee with little affect and the youko blinked down at a pair of big, girlish acid green eyes staring up at him from the dirt. There, sprawled under him lay a small girl of about seven years old, her pigtail messy and lopsided due to their collision, her freckles bright orange against her pale skin.

She'd gone white with anger, her presumably cute face contorted in rage so deep it positively twisted her little face into a horrific mask. The girl raised her fist and pointed at him, shrieking intelligibly. For a moment, Alaster couldn't figure out why a little girl was on the battle field of the Makai or why she seemed to have an A-class aura and the scent of a pure disease…like her entire being consisted of nothing but the sickness.

"It's him! It's him! Kill the fox!" she screamed, gesturing wildly at him. "What are you waiting for you fools? Kill him!"

Alaster looked up and felt his stomach drop into his toes, his ears flicking back against his skull in horror. Standing in a giant ocean of lumbering, drooling, bloody and diseased glory behind the little girl, the horde of Enma's infected victims began to act upon the girl's wild commands. A quick look over his shoulder revealed the giant, iron gates of Yuusuke's fortress, hundreds of haggard, wide-eyed faces gaping down at this mad, silver-haired fox-demon single-handedly attacking the child warlord and her thousands.

He swallowed as the demons advanced.

_So much for not being dramatic_, he thought.

* * *

"So…" Kurama said slowly.

The candles burned lower about the two contrasting diners, casting long, creepy shadows across the walls and haunting features of the speaker and listener alike. Kurama ran a long fingered hand through his ragged copper tresses, sighing as if exhausted by the sheer effort of listening to his companion. Karasu watched his captive with an admirable kind of calm, waiting for the kitsune to remark.

"All this trouble merely for the sake of keeping the Tantei under control," he murmured thoughtfully. He drummed a finger against the table top and smiled a bitter, yet self-satisfied kind of smirk. "I never realized Enma hated us so."

"And why not?" Karasu chuckled. "He brought me back to make you my – and in essence his – tool. What he never considered I suppose, was you becoming stronger and escaping to further make a nuisance of yourself."

He plucked up a crystal wineglass and swirled it slowly, sensuously watching the violet-red liquid slosh about. The light refracted through it, throwing dark, bloody colors about the room and staining the walls in the suggestive crimson hue. Kurama glanced at the newly painted walls and narrowed his icy green-gold eyes; a cat-like gesture for a fox demon. The hidden threat in the wine did not escape him; Karasu, twisted mind that he possessed, was probably picturing what Kurama would look like covered in blood.

"With Yuusuke openly claiming his father's throne Enma grew anxious and with his old tormentor and mocker, Youko Kurama slipping into mysterious obscurity where he couldn't keep an eye on you it's no wonder he got antsy," laughed Karasu, gazing at the ceiling overhead in amusement. "The suspicious old bastard had his mind absolutely made up that the lot of you had treachery planned."

Kurama pursed his lips, training his face carefully blank as he went on to ask his next question.

"If we were a threat…then why, pray tell, did he order you to kill Kazuma Kuwabara? Surely he presented no threat," whispered the kistune softly.

Karasu's violet eyes snapped back to Kurama, as if sensing a hint of delicious pain in those words and like a vulture he drew himself back to the source of the bleeding question. "Physical threat no, I guess he didn't…but Koenma shouldn't have over estimated the human's ability to keep a secret."

The kitsune tightened his fingers a knot beneath the table.

Karasu smiled sadistically, savoring the moment before the kill as Kurama drew his own conclusions. He took in with pleasure the almost invisible shifting of the fox's hypnotic green-gold eyes, the lightening fast theories growing, discarding and redrawn behind those eyes as puzzle pieces fell into place. He paused still, sipping his sweet wine and waiting for the lovely creature to finish his conspiracy dot-to-dot.

"You killed Kazuma…" whispered Kurama. "He knew all about the scheme because of his position under Koenma. You framed Hiei for Mukuro's murder and then killed Kuwabara to make sure he never could speak against it in Spirit World Court. You had Hiei exiled to make sure he never took Mukuro's throne!"

Karasu threw his arms wide, smiling gleefully…totally insane.

"Now you know everything except what can save you," he gloated. "It seems I've been ruining your lives forever and you never knew. Framing the Jaganshi was the most fun I ever had, save fighting you of course. The politics of it all mean nothing to me, but the pleasure…I can do this for the pleasure anytime."

Kurama closed his eyes, fighting his bloodlust even as his mind summoned up the forbidden memories, the savory taste of hot blood coating his tongue like fire wine, slicking his throat, setting his own blood aflame with desire for more. His most ancient and primal wants called to him, fueled by his righteous fury against this…_monster_!

"You won't get away with it," Kurama began. "I won't let you. You're going to die, here Karasu."

"And what? The Grim Reaper girl will drag my spirit down to hell?" leered the quest demon, startling the kitsune with his venomous tone. His lavender eyes burned like acid.

Kurama could only stare.

"What a disgusting thing for you to subject yourself to Kurama," Karasu snapped, showing the first real hints of anger since the moment Kurama sat down. "I remember that _twit_ of a girl and was mortified to learn you'd chosen _her_ of all creatures. You could have a far better mate than a mere boat-girl and yet despite all the rules, the laws and the politics you threw away your favor in Spirit World law to have your prize."

He laughed acidly, the sound burning the kitsune's ears.

"What a pathetic thing to do; only to have her stripped from you the moment Enma learned of it. Almost as sad as your gung-ho leader taking that human as his consort. At least _she_ consented to become a demon. We got rid of Mukuro before she could start anything damnable with the fire-demon at least."

"You!" spat Kurama leaping to his feet suddenly. His feral eyes blazed with primal desire…desire to taste blood, his demonic aura billowing about his slender frame like a great silken curtain, his skin heating with the flames of his hatred.

He bared fangs at Kurama.

"What a gift for your wedding day: The loss of two teammates at once. The Jaganshi might have cried if he wasn't such a cold-hearted bastard. Now that precious little Mika girl is infected while her parent's fall under my disease and the whole of the Makai goes mad. Would you like me to tell you how I plan to murder your half-breed son? It's delicious."

"_Enough_!" Kurama roared.

He slammed his hands against the table top and every dish, glass, and entrée exploded, whipping themselves against the wall or disintegrating all at once. Brilliant emerald green energy crackled like snakes of lightening bouncing across the youkai's pale skin. Kurama's face had gone white with rage, his eyes filled with blinding green light that lit up his human features like twin suns.

Karasu leapt gently backwards, flipping neatly over his chair and landing a safe distance from the table as his seat, the table and his well-used wine-glass burst into tiny grains of burned nothingness in Kurama's power. The kitsune's loose button-up shirt fluttered and flapped in the wake of his energy, his shorn hair rippling in the electrified air. Karasu watched with morbid fascination as the red-head raised his eyes to lock on the quest demon.

_Die_! -they said

Suddenly, a flurry of rose petals burst from the kitsune's body, hidden from whatever secret pocket and hurled themselves at the black-haired murderer with the speed of hatred. Karasu laughed and the petals burned away, disintegrating in his corrosive aura.

Sick, violet-red energy coursed through his frame and radiated from his skin like a second layer of clothing. His eyes too filled with his individual energy as he lifted his clawed hands to Kurama, inviting his attack. The kitsune growled deep in his throat and gratefully took the invitation. He flicked four fully bloomed ningen roses into his hands. Too quick to follow, he darted forward, shoving through his opponent's energy and hurling the flora at the demon.

Karasu dodged three, the fourth lodging itself in his shoulder. Blood splattered on the stone and smoldered.

Kurama landed opposite the darkly clothed youkai, spinning to face him, another rose already in hand as the demon slowly turned to face him. Karasu's lavender eyes gleamed with a kind of angry insanity as he reached up to rip the flower from his body, crushing it in his destructive claws.

"You'll regret that," he said.

"I regret nothing," Kurama replied.

Karasu thrust his hand at the beautiful red-head and in an instant a dozen grotesque little orbs of gray flesh materialized in the air. They convulsed suddenly and sprouted dripping bat wings, all opening a single slitted eye, yellow and diseased to fix upon their kistune target.

"You remember these," he purred, stroking one affectionately. He smiled. "Kill him."

Kurama reacted instantly, he threw his arms up like a shield and immediately the swarm threw themselves like hornets at him, arrowing eagerly for his vulnerable body. The thief never even flinched as they came, instead he closed his eyes and a glowing shroud of green energy billowed open like a curtain before him. The flying bombs, simple minded as they were, hurled into the shield and detonated.

The smoke cleared and Karasu's eyes narrowed angrily, cheated. In place of a broken and bleeding Kurama, a giant, five-point leaf stood erect like a green shield in the centre of the room. From behind it, Kurama's expressionless face leaned around. He then smirked and hurled a handful of something at Karasu.

Tiny black seeds, hundreds in a single handful.

The demon snorted and reached up to burn them into nothing with his energy but the moment the tiny seeds met his power they erupted not into flames…but vines. Thousands of thin, snakelike vines covered in thorns blew up from the tiny plant pods and ensnared the snarling quest demon. Instantly his arms and legs fastened themselves together and Karasu collapsed, bleeding and trapped to the ground the vines constricted about his body.

"Struggle all you like," Kurama offered coldly, tossing the giant leaf aside. "They grow with your energy."

He reached beneath the collar of his shirt and pulled a small green splinter from the fabric. It flashed and grew until Kurama gripped not a splinter but a long, razor sharp blade of simple human saw grass. His expression held nothingness as he raised the weapon, intending to strike dead the sadistic demon who'd tortured his friends and family. He'd make sure the quest demon had _no chance_ of coming back this time.

But, to Kurama's anxiety, the youkai merely snickered madly, a high and grating strain of insanity.

"Ah, ah, ah, little Kurama-kun. Remember little Mika girl? Unless you want her to die right now I suggest you lower than blade and dismiss your plants," he laughed his eyes glittering in anticipation. Kurama paused, his eyes flickering. "Hurry up, fox. I haven't all day. Or do you want the child to perish?"

Kurama bit his lip until a bead of ruby blood gathered beneath the fang. Finally he threw his blade aside, the weapon petering off to a tiny, harmless seed of grass. He stepped away from Karasu, dismissing his vines, so the energy eating vines dwindled away into mere husks, floating in the pool of smoking blood that dripped from Karasu's torn flesh. The demon in question stood with some difficultly, his bloodless lips pulling back in a triumphant smile.

"Still…so soft…Kurama," he taunted, panting through his pain. "Still compassionate. The flaw in your perfection that makes you so vulnerable."

Karasu seemed to draw strength from his words, his lavender eyes growing bright as he studied Kurama's rigid, emotionless façade. A strand of his long sable hair hung like a curtain across his face, lending him a more controlled and deadly visage. He staggered toward Kurama who to an instinctive step back, his green eyes flickering with a familiar fear of one seeing a childhood nightmare.

"Hold still or I'll make it _so_ much worse for you," he promised sweetly. "Mika too."

Kurama went so still then Karasu almost felt insulted that the kitsune could gather the bravery to do so without second thought. No matter. Karasu reflected upon the irony of all that had come to pass as he stepped close to the immobile kitsune, reaching up a clawed hand, dripping his own blood to place it gently along the fox's pale neck, thumb running a velvety trail down a vulnerable slope of his throat.

The King of Thieves never even flinched.

The pulse beneath his fingers didn't race like that of a wild animal, but it did quicken. He pulled the kitsune intimately close, their faces so near if one moved carelessly his nose would run into the other's. The sadist noted with a distant kind of delight that Kurama had grown tall enough to do this without bending down to him. The former thief's wiry shoulders trembled with barely concealed rage, his hands clenching and unclenching as Karasu studied his expression inch by inch.

Karasu's mad, amethyst orbs held Kurama's cold green gaze, emerald speckled with gold. Like twins from the other side of the looking glass, they captivated one another with the sheer _distinction_ between themselves. They gazed at one another with death's promise silent between them. Kurama gritted his teeth, his eyes fighting to remain without fear, hatred or any other emotion Karasu drew pleasure from. Karasu's sought the emotion in those deep orbs.

"All so years ago…I gave you power to defeat even Yomi," Karasu whispered breath smelling of copper blood, death and spices. "And I still hold you helpless."

Kurama refused to speak, fearing to open his mouth. Karasu ran his claws teasingly across the young man's neckline, his razor sharp nail threatening to open the delicate skin and mix the diseased DNA into the kitsune's. With his free hand he tipped Kurama's chin up, exposing the fragile arch of his throat, ultimate submission for any animal demon.

Kurama's breath quickened with rage.

His teeth ground, fangs threatening to open new wounds on his bleeding lip.

"You know," Karasu remarked, tapping his claw against the soft skin beneath the kitsune's chin, making the former thief go taunt with hatred, fear long abandoned. Bloodlust dominated every thought in his mind, fueled by cold logical calculation that only barely kept him from abandoning his strategy and attacking Karasu on the spot. "Once this is all over I think I'll go find your little ferry-girl and punish her for ruining your perfection. Would you like me to tell her anything for you?"

"Of you're going to kill me…best do it," Kurama murmured.

"Not yet," Karasu chuckled.

He suddenly ran a rough thumb across the red-head's abused lower lip, wiping the blood off the youko's mouth and running his tongue earnestly across the bloody digit. He smiled a gory smile, looking particularly vampirish as he did. The kitsune stared at the demon in a moment of dumb horror, unable to believe what he just... Karasu seized Kurama's wrists and jerked the slighter youkai forward, practically banging foreheads with the enraged kitsune.

Kurama planted his hands against the quest demon's narrow shoulders and leaned back, grimacing in disgust as his enemy forced the contact between them, auras writhing and contrasting as opposite energies came together like oil and water. He bared his fangs, crimson blood smeared from the corner of his mouth where Karasu had wiped it off his lip.

"You've tormented me by living for far too long!" his captor spat, hatred boiling in those purple eyes. "You'll die when I see fit, kitsune! No sooner!"

"Release me!" Kurama hissed, eyes blazing molten hatred.

Karasu laughed. A cracked and broken crescendo of madness that spiraled into the high ceiling to echo like a shattered laugh track over and over again. Kurama growled and shoved the quest demon away from him, shattering several of the monster's ribs as he tore himself free of the twisted hold falling backward in a smooth backhand spring to escape him.

"The end is near," leered the psychopathic youkai. "Your friends' defenses are failing. I hold the only means of cure here in my hands and Mukuro's assassins are ridding the Makai of the only other three creatures who know the truth of this. Soon Enma will control this realm and I will have what I came for."

Kurama stared silently at the mad youkai, his internal clock ticking down the minutes…the seconds.

_Mika,_ he thought silently. _Wake up Mika._

* * *

"Oh kripes…"

Keiko sighed. "Whenever you say that, someone usually dies in a violent manner, Jin."

The wind demon simpered apologetically. "Sorry, lass, but there's bein' a giant herd o' nasty demon-blokes trundlin' fer th' front gates and they dun look very 'appy t' meh," said the redhead told her with a heavy kind of smile.

He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder toward the front of the fortress grounds. The Empress of the Third Realm grimaced and slowly levered herself up on the haft of a spear, using it as a crutch to limp her way over to the equally battered looking shinobi. She peered over the ramparts and moaned in despair and irritation at the sight of what looked like an ocean of glittering beetles.

But she knew better. The glitter was armor glinting up at her and the ocean an endless army of dangerous, mind-washed plague-carriers. The stench of oversweet, rotting flesh wafted up to them on the stale wind, that never improved in quality no matter how hard Jin tried to manipulate the currents.

Jin's lamp-ish blue eyes squinted at the front rank. "Looks loike there's a wee lass out front…she'd carryin' a long black scepter thingee." He blinked over at Keiko and several of the remaining fighters huddled beside their mistress. "I think she's leadin' th' horde."

They remnants of Yuusuke's loyalty waited, watching with silent, bated breath as the thundering, uneven rumble of clumsy feet, armor and weapons rolled ever nearer, like the tide of the merciless black ocean slithering closer to the fragile walls of their little sand castle. Keiko's nails dug into the stone, small chips of rock chinking out of the wall to crumble to the ground. Jin gnawed his lip, ears rigid, practically quivering, his giant blue eyes taking up more then their usual room on his face.

By the time the horde came to halt, not more and a hundred yards from the front gates, all those watch could indeed see the leader, a small black-haired little girl in a simple black haori and pig-tails. In her tiny hand she carried a mean looking black scepter of black flesh, dripping filth and what everyone knew without really knowing…was infected blood.

She grinned gleefully up at the exhausted last line of defense.

"I'm Jenny!" she called up to the walls. "I'll be killing you all today!"

Minna chose this moment to poke her head over the wall and waved energetically before anyone could stop her. "Hi! I'm Minna! Want to be friends?"

Jenny grinned evilly and pointed the perverted rod at the other child. Several slitted yellow eyes, oozing pus and dribbling, quivering with fever squinted open at the end of the pole. Minna made a face, disgusted by the sight, even as the feverish orbs began to lock on her and glow with dangerous lavender light.

"Sure."

She fired.

Jin tackled the child off the wall just in time. The sickly colored beam shot away into the sky and vanished. Jin shoved Minna hastily into a panicked Botan's arms, the toddler shrieking all the while about how mean Jenny was. The shinobi sighed and moved back to the front of the walls, sitting down beside Keiko and staring blankly at his bloody knees. She sighed and tipped her aching head on his shoulder, tears rimming her eyes.

"So…th' liddle monster out there talkin' 'bout how she's gonna be killin' us all dead then is she?" Jin asked with a mirthless grin.

Somewhere in the background Jenny droned on about how pointless resistance was and blah, blah, blah…

Keiko smiled. "Yep. She started her monologue a couple seconds after you took Minna back to Boton. We're safe until she get bored of hearing herself talk."

Jin sat up and turned to squint down at the front gates. "Aye…Keiko…" he said slowly. "Some crazy youko demon is tacklin' that Jenny-lass. Hah! He's sittin' on 'er loike a football, 'e is! Hah hah! You get 'er yu' crazy fox!"

Keiko leapt up. "Fox? Is it Kurama?" she cried looking wildly down at the road. Sure enough, a silver youko had tackled Jenny into a ditch in the middle of her victory speech. The girl was screaming and pointing at him, but without her scepter it seemed the horde didn't know what to do. They lumbered toward the lone kitsune who looked up like he only just noticed them there.

The youko seemed…familiar.

Then a scream pierced the silence. Everyone there spun to stare at Boton who'd almost plunged down the side of the wall, eyes brilliant raspberry eyes fixated upon the silver-haired kitsune. Her face looked like paper, her mouth hanging open in a silent gasp of horror.

"A-ah," she sputtered. "Oh my gosh! That's Alaster!"

* * *

**Author's Note: **Okay. Not as quick or as good an update as I'd like but I'm starting to see a conclusion some time in the next couple chapters. Buh hahaha. As soon as I finish this one, I'm due for a couple sequels to begin. Hee hee…

Cloud8.9: And to all the people who asked, pocky sticks are long, thin stick-like cookies dipped in chocolate. Yum.

Cheezit: (cracks knuckles) Either get this fic done or die, Syco. I've got a bucn of other fics to start but we can't do that until you wrap this one up.

Me: (whimpers) Why are you so mean? PS: I reposted this chapter because I accidentally up up the last chapter and had Alaster fighting Blade instead of Shield. My bad.


	15. Totally Unrelated Events That Fit

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it. The End.

**Story Thus Far: **Kurama and Karasu are caught in a garish standoff whilst everyone else scrambles for sanity, safety and a place to hide from the infected hordes rampaging Yuuuske kingdom. What of Mika? Lying in the human world with a sprouting flower on her wrist? Of Alaster who's managed to run into an evil horde princess? Stay tuned to find out.

Enjoy Chapter 15!

**Totally Unrelated Events That **

**Absolutely Fit Together Somehow**

"Mika stop eating those."

The command was iron-clad and no-nonsense to the point of being laughable, but the dark eyed little girl didn't laugh. She solemnly placed the handful of spicy red sugar candies back inside the plastic sprinkles, sticky red fingers dropping them one by one into the container. She eyed it greedily, eyes darting toward her red-hair companion. The frosting smeared across her nose and mouth bore grim testimony to the sugar-coated battle ground of her guardian's kitchen and the cooking war being waged inside.

…or lack thereof.

"Mika! Stop eating that!" Kurama snapped, grabbed the hyper-active child from the counter top and placing her on the tile floor. He pried a wooden spoon from her hand before she could whack him with it again. He shook his head, a large white patch of flour prominent in his cinnamon tresses, powdering his pale face so he looked like a mannequin. Six-year-old Mika's lip quivered and she reached pathetically for the spoon in question.

The kitsune narrowed his eyes at her. "That won't work a second time, girl."

She instantly stopped blubbering and glowered, knotting her arms over her chest. "Kurama no fun," she articulated childishly.

"No. I'm not. That's because you turned a flour bag over my head," he reminded her, placing the girl on the floor. She blinked up at her from her height of three and a half feet and grabbed the back of his jeans at the knee, tugging. He looked down at her, stirring something or another that smell delicious. If not for the miniature ball of six-year-old terror throwing precious ingredients into his hair and clothing, the spirit fox actually had a wicked skill at cooking.

Being over a thousand years old the Fox Thief had become something of a culinary expert; – Who ever heard of someone getting that old and not knowing how to cook? - But obviously wasn't above chocolate chip cookies and Christmas tree shaped confections. Mika tugged again, pouting.

"Wanna see," she told him, bouncing on her toes. "Wanna see!"

"You threw flour over my head," he repeated.

"Sorrry," she apologized quickly. Tug, tug. "Wanna see!"

He looked pensively down at her. "Mika. Tell me something honestly and maybe I'll forgive you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" she agreed, hopping shaken-cola-bottle excitement.

The fox knelt beside her, abandoning the batter- mix on the counter and gazing sternly at her. Then, with total seriousness he helda handclosed over something unknown. She blinked, taking his larger hand and examining his closed fist with a toddler's fascination. He waited until she was satisfied and spoke again.

"Tell me what I'm holding," he commanded her. "Honestly."

Mika stared at the kitsune with a mixture of outrage and despair. Obviously she didn't know and that meant he wouldn't forgive her and let her sit on the counter again. She'd grown used to her new guardian's strange method of getting a point across, but his bizarre child-tactics sometimes made Mika angry to the point of tears. She'd hated all the previous guardians for treating her like a child, but sometimes she wished that he would too sometimes, just so didn't feel so guilty for every choice she made.

"Well?" he inquired calmly, slim brows rising.

"I…don' know," Mika mumbled.

Then, to her astonishment, Kurama grabbed her under her arms and placed her on the counter.

"Very good," he commended her absently. He picked up the nearest spoon and began stirring again like nothing had happened.

"Wah?"

Kurama picked up on the child's confusion and smiled warmly at her. "Mika. You answered honestly. It's what I asked you to do. Therefore, you answered correctly."

"But…" Mika said, her head hurting. This was that strange Kurama-thinking that made him so different from all the human care-takers her parents had tried to persuade her to behave for. He always made some kind of obscure sense but to the six year old, that sense seemed too deep for her quite often.

Kurama didn't look at her while he explained. "Sometimes the answer is in plain sight, Mika. Many people think I'm incredibly smart for the things I can guess at correctly." He looked up at her. "But you know…the reason I'm smarter then most people is because I see what many of them don't. I've watched the work and how it works for a long time and I've come to realize that logic isn't as complicated as people would like it to be."

Mika took a cookie and sank her teeth into it; the wide gap where she'd fallen off her bike and knocked her two front teeth out oozed frosting.

"I got s'arth," she wheezed around the cookie.

"Swallow first. You'll choke and it's not pleasant," Kurama told her placidly.

Mika swallowed, blushing. He'd once allowed her to choke on a peppermint before performing the Heimlich. He then immediately asked her 'Do we run while we suck on candy?' The answer, as you can imagine, was no. The girl repeated what she'd attempted to say.

"I'm not smart."

"Of course you are. If you weren't I would have never agreed to raise you in this manner," he told her in the oddly blunt way that other adults did not. He handed her a cookie cutter. "Hold this. Mika, the reason your parents asked me to raise you is because you are so smart that most human nannies cannot cope. I dare say, I have trouble sometimes and that's significant."

Mika made a face. "Dun like nannies. They're shtuuuupid."

"No. You are a mean little demon girl who uses her superior intelligence and genetic gifts to torment human baby-sitters," Kurama said somewhat tactlessly. But for Mika, tact meant more words and less meaning. The meaning in Kurama's words were plain enough.

"I'm not mean," she said, hurt. "Whaddyu mean, 'mean'? I'm not mean!"

"Yes you are. You bullied all the boys at school today because you're stronger than them. Then you made fun of the girls because you understand more than them. Then you disobeyed the teacher because you're faster and know she cannot punish you unless you allow it." he pointed a spoon at her, gaze stern. "That is mean. Now the only question is whether you want to continue to be mean or if you'd like to be sweet instead."

Silence.

"Kurama?"

"Hmm?"

She smeared frosting on his nose with a smirk. "I'm not mean. I'm gonna be _sweet_!

Sweet?

Sugar?

Flour?

White?

Snow? She felt…hazy…like she should be remembering something…something important. She frowned and held her head. Her skull pounded like drum, a pulsing throb through her head like a heavy bass system in his brain. Mika woozily looked up at her guardian, he didn't seem to notice her, merely wiping frosting off his nose with a finger and licking it off with annoyance.

His hand came away red…red with blood. Dark crimson…almost black dripped on the counter, into a vat of white frosting like measured drips of red food coloring. She smelled…the metallic scent of blood, of sweat of pain of fear. She looked up from the scarlet drops and her heart nearly stopped as she met Kurama's gaze.

Her guardian stared back at her from the safety of the familiar kitchen…his arms bleeding crimson flowers through his holiday sweater, gaping holes burned into his jeans, his torso, a heavy run of the horrible fluid running down his right eye from a deep gash on his brow. The stench of burned flesh and blood and sugar cookies seared her nose.

He grabbed her arms roughly. "_Please_! WAKE UP!" he screamed.

_BAM!_

Mika's eyes flew open in reality and the sweet, sugary scent remained, though the flour vanished I favor of slushy snow and freezing wind. She sucked a gasp and sat up, shivering violently. Her head spun like a quarter during a game of Bloody Knuckles, everything felt fuzzy and blurred around the edges. She remembered in fragments… sleeping… evil Christmas carolers… Terrasuka! She remembered that! Running in the snow with Kurama… suddenly… violent urges like a voice…in her head telling her to hurt him. Hurt Kurama? Oh no?

She stared down the front of herself and noted the aching gash crisscrossing her belly and chest, suddenly feeling a bit less concerned for the red-haired fox-human hybrid. Groaning she looked around, trying to assemble her head. The scent of sweetness remained…what was it? The smell had brought her that sweet dream and broken the that terrible voice…the sugary smell.

She clutched something in her hand and gazed down at it.

In her hand a small, withered white flower lay rumpled and abused, the sweet odor of Christmas frosting filling the air. She inhaled and knew without a doubt that Kurama had left her the flower... somehow he'd known what illness assaulted her. He'd known and he'd cured her with this, but no he'd vanished. Vanished into the Makai with Touya dragging him down.

Touya. Why had Touya attacked Kurama? Where had they gone? Mika felt the first niggling of panic. Had Touya hurt Kurama during the struggle? Or taken him to the enemy (whoever the hell that was) and left him there? Perhaps they'd gone to her father's kingdom? Maybe to the Third Realm? She peered at the distorted and humming air behind the garbage cans and gnawed her lip as the biggest question arose.

_Should I follow?_

Tactics had never been Mika's strong suit, no matter what Kurama told her of being intelligent. She held her nose like a swimmer going for the cannonball. With a leapt she screwed her eyes shut and bounced into the shimmering air, vanishing into the portal and zipping through the non-existent Barriers to speed into the depths of the Makai, hoping where ever she landed it didn't have any grumpy demons to flatten.

* * *

The this point Cloud was in a pretty foul mood, to be quite generous, and frankly not in any kind of attitude for non-sense. Veil shared his dark enthusiasm and as the two sped alike, looking like a gothic Ying and Yang, they silently agreed on one thing and one thing alone in their mad race for Yuusuke's fortress. Their senses buzzed with the rising energies of the forest and its inhabitance. They could smell the stench of disease on the air like a stale wind. They agreed on one thing.

They had to get there…NOW!

Somewhere out there, Cloud felt in the pit of his stomach that something had began. Something terrible.

The hordes of infected demons he knew about already and the fact that they'd gathered at the front gates of the castle didn't shock him. The new and powerful energy leading them also did not surprise the dark angel and certainly not the knowledge that Yuusuke would soon join the ranks of the contaminated, or that Touya had finally fallen prey to the disease's final stage or even the growing feeling that keeping his promise to protect Alaster might somehow have grown more difficult…

Beyond shock, thought Cloud with an ambiguous sense of certainty. Nothing could scare him.

Then a girl fell out the sky and landed on him.

That, he admitted, _did_ scare him a bit.

Veil stopped his run long enough to see Cloud get run into the ground by the falling ass of a brunette girl in sweats and sneakers, though he didn't make any move to either help or harass the fallen shadowkai. No, he seemed more interested in the groaning teenager sitting woozily between Cloud's aching wings, his downy limbs having cushioned her plunge into the Third Realm.

"Mika?" Cloud heard him ask in a low whisper. "Mika Urameshi?"

"Veil!"

The teeni-bopper butt situated on his back shifted uncomfortably between his awkwardly angled wings, crushing his ribs farther into the dirt and reinforcing that aforementioned foul mood. Black energy danced around his skin, but neither the newcomer nor the dragon-demon noticed, far too busy socializing to take note of the abused and somewhat flatter blonde beneath Mika's tail end.

Veil grabbed her by the shoulders, kneeling beside her, but didn't seem to realize whom she'd landed on, the same way she didn't. "Mika, what are you doing here? How did you get the Third Realm without Kurama? Where is he? Why isn't he with you?"

"I don't know," she said with a pained kind of voice. "I was with him, but we were attacked by these deranged demons and Karasu's evil sister or something. Then I…I got sick in the head and Kurama was kidnapped by…_Touya_. It was really weird. But I'm alright now and I came to Makai to find him, but it doesn't look like he's here, huh?"

Veil shook his head. "No. I'm afraid not. But it's not safe here. There's a terrible disease that Karasu's spreading on Enma's orders -,"

"Enma's?"

"Yes. Your father has fallen to the disease and Karasu's infected horde is closing in on your mother and the last of the Third Realm's loyal. Mukuro's – err – Kumuro's land has fallen already and no reports forthwith from Yomi so we can only assume…."

"STOP FILLING HER IN A BIT SO I CAN GET UP!" Cloud burst out finally, face paper white with rage.

Mika looked startled, twisting around to see what/who she'd landed on. Spotting a tussled blond head protruding from the area somewhere beneath her buttocks she leapt up immediately. "Oh crap! Sorry, dude! I didn't see you there."

"Naturally," he replied pleasantly, "your _butt_ was on my _back_!"

"Erm…" said Mika keenly, big brown eyes batting quizzically at him. "Hey…you're that…the dark angel dad and Kurama used to tell me about. Cloudhunter?"

Hearing his name mutilated again for the millionth time in the last week or so, by the owner of the ass that had just plowed him into the ground, the immortal virtually exploded; eyes flaring blood red light. "_Cloud_!"

"Geez. Take a chill pill, blondie." The girl didn't seem impressed.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Cloud mimed throttling an invisible teenager.

Veil figured this as good a time as any to wade into the generation gap and try to smooth things over…a caring sentiment save that the one sentimenting was Veil, therefore there was nothing either sensitive or sentimental about it. He marched between the two of them and smacked them both hard across the head. This irritated both parties who (in Cloud's case) met him just half and hour ago and didn't think Veil had earned the right to strike him under any circumstances and (in Mika's case) had fallen through a rip in the space time continuum and didn't think she deserved to get slapped period.

"Get a grip, you two. We have to get to the castle," Veil snapped.

Cloud glowered but nodded, glancing at Mika. "How fast can you run?"

"I dunno…I guess I'm pretty fast if I try to…Hey! HEY! Put me down!"

But Veil and Cloud had seized her arm and begun to frog-march (run) her toward the castle and all the horrors that awaited there.

* * *

_**Wake up.**_

_So...dark…so…nothing…noir…it's all so…noir…_

_**Wake up!**_

The spirit lifted his face from his knees; cheeks stained and tear streaked, blood at the corner of his mouth crusted in his pock-marked palms. The scars left by decades of grinding his nails into the heel of his hands, the thin, feathery line across his mouth where he'd bitten his lip until his teeth punctured the skin. His face, so pale and youthful, held centuries of pain and torment not fit for the features of one his seeming age. His slanted, cat-like eyes worn like someone had taken his spirit to the grind stone and sanded him down into a thin, smooth nothing.

He looked up, listless as some blurry figure materialized from the nothingness. The shadows converged and melted into a tangible figure that rose from the void like a beacon of black smoke. The lost soul lowered his chin into his folded arms again, his lank brown hair flittering in the sudden hot wind of the new presence. He didn't know what this strange new entity wanted. He'd seen many entities in this place…most of them terrible.

_What…do you want?_

_**I want you to wake up.**_

_Who are you?_

_**You know me, brat. **_

_I don't even know who **I** am. Much less you. Leave me._

_**You know who I am! You have to remember! Concentrate!**_

The lost soul clutched his head, screwing his golden eyes tightly shut. _Can't, can't, can't! Not strong enough! Not strong enough! I'm too weak!_ He felt his throat knot up and his stomach churn with nausea as the familiar mantra came back to him, that giant dominating voice that masqueraded at his own…telling him he could not, reminding him how pathetic, how useless, how weak he had always been, though he couldn't remember why or how.

But it was all he knew. It must be right. I'm destined to fail! Despair set in and he buried his face once more in his arms, shaking his head. He couldn't do it, couldn't and didn't want to because even if he did it changed nothing because he was still weak and destined to fall, to fail and destroy others because of his mistakes. Too weak! Too weak!

_**You spineless whelp!**_

_I **am** spineless! You don't have to rub it in!_

**_No! I mean, grow up and get your own opinion. All I hear is you repeating what your dear, damn daddy told you. _**The voice sneered elegantly in the darkness and the lost soul blinked up into the smoky face of the mysterious entity. **_He destroyed you and sent you here not because you're weak, but because you're strong and because you're a pain in the ass to him. That's why I'm gonna drag you back to reality, because you're giving him a hard time and that's what we need. It's time someone knocked the bastard down a peg and it's gonna be you. _**

The lost soul stared, shocked at the smoky figure and thought for a moment he saw something glow an ugly purple color in the centre of it's forehead. Something familiar coiled through the gloom like a sinuous serpent of black fire and darkness. The murky blur of this place started to grow oddly dull…then brighter, like that strange purple glow had started sucking away the shadows.

_I…I know you! I…I know who I am!_

**_Good. Now wake up! The Fox is on his last ropes as it is. _**

****

* * *

Alaster, being the intelligent kind of demon he was, knew when to cut his losses and run: A talent that few possessed in a world of dramatics, heroism and romantic ideas like getting killed in battle had a glorious and honorable glow about it. As an experienced fighter, or at least a long time observer of serious fighters, he'd come to realize over the years that dying in battle had no appeal what so ever.

He'd seen death by the hand of an enemy and found nothing dignified about it. Gagging and mewling helplessly on the blade of your opponent, drooling your own blood like a thick beverage down your chin and chest, knowing that you'd lost as the enemy gloats over your demise, or worse yet, dismisses you from the world without even the vaguest appreciation for the life they'd taken.

He'd seen a shinobi drown in his own blood once upon a time when he and Shizuru first started traveling together. He remembered when she'd introduced him to her adopted sect of wandering ninjas, all having abandoned their home dojo in search of something more adverse. The killing had been a grudge match between two skilled fighters and in the end their companion had lost his life.

He remembered Touya had knelt beside the defeated ninja until he'd passed, then looked up from the fresh corpse with those deadly pale blue eyes and said a simple sentence that rocked him to his core.

"I'm very… appreciative… that your father didn't kill me."

Hearing Touya say the word 'appreciative' in that context nailed a lesson between Alaster's eyes like a nine-inch railroad spike. Alaster figured life was the best thing that sentient beings had going for them…and he refused to squander it or likewise have others steal it from him. So the next thing the clever kitsune did could be taken as either very boldly brilliant…or very desperately dim-witted.

He leapt up, grabbed the girl he'd accidentally tackled to the ground and held his claws to her throat, snarling, "Call them off if you want to live!"

The horde shuffled to a halt and Alaster figured that life must have had a special place in her little heart too because she shot him a very mean look over her shoulder. He could practically taste the loathing oozing from her every pore in his direction. If she'd had her way he figured she'd have loved to have him slowly torn to pieces at her whim, but he had the claws, the size and the advantage so she didn't have the luxury.

"Foolish!" she hissed at him as he backed up the path from the mindlessly glaring eyes. "You think you've won do you? That you'll get away alive?"

Alaster deliberated. "At this rate…I suppose I do."

"Bastard creature! Damn you! I'll have your hide!"

"I have claws. You don't. I win. Now kindly shut up and keep walking. No, no! Biting me won't get you anywhere."

The child fumed, looking less and less like an innocent child by the second. Alaster knew the girl had some kind of special influence over the hordes of infected victims, but he couldn't fathom what precisely. The overpowering stench of insanity and disease rolling off the sea of polluted demons made what his nose told him hard to confirm. If his senses were, indeed, not addled by the odor of the other diseased, then it smelled like this girl was pure sickness. A fleshly sack of pure sickness.

"You'll die soon enough! Fool! My touch is toxic! My scent a poison! I'm death itself!" she crowed, startling Alaster who, up until now, had her fingered as some kind of weird mascot. The seriousness of her announcement brought him unpleasantly to earth and the reality of his impending doom…or whatever.

Al smiled to himself. "So…you must be the disease incarnate that Enma summoned up. You made Karasu the carrier and first living host body for the illness and let it spread," Alaster said, voice sardonically amused. "You really are death itself in that sense, I suppose."

She leered. "You suppose a lot of things, fox."

"I suppose."

"You'll fall dead in moments. Twenty seconds if you're luck is strong."

"I feel pretty lucky."

They continued to back their steady way up the path and Alaster thought he heard someone screeching his name but figured he could ignore it for now because his full attention was needed to do this hostage taking thing right. The girl squirmed in his grip, but didn't try anything fancy to escape him, though the scent of disease grew thicker, like a blanket over his mouth and nose. Could air get _thicker_ really? Actually thick enough to choke a man?

"Why aren't you dying?" screamed the girl in frustration.

Alaster figured honesty couldn't hurt at this point. "Maybe because I'm already infected?"

"No you aren't! If you were then I could control you no matter how minimal the infection! I am the disease! The disease is me! I am the weapon of Lord Enma himself and _you're not playing fair_!" Her face screwed up in a babyish twist for that last whining wail.

The fox demon felt a flicker of confusion and that forbidden emotion…hope? "I'm playing perfectly fair. If your powers are failing you, that's not my problem."

Alaster had begun to wonder exactly where he was planning to go with his diseased little girl. He couldn't take her into the castle surely, that would only expose everyone else to the sickness and that wouldn't be very cricket. No. So maybe he could just keep walking until the horde was out of sight and smell? Nah. That didn't do anyone any good. So perhaps…just kill her? Could he do that?

"Go ahead and kill me!" the child squealed, sensing Alaster's sinister line of thought. "They will assault the castle mercilessly until everyone is dead and infected, even those we had orders to keep alive. More death will come from your actions, fox! Do not dare to try and end my life, for it will -,"

"They do what they will do even under your command, you liar. See you in hell."

He slashed her throat open and threw her down in the road where she fell with a gurgling wail. Black blood – more ooze than lymphocytes – bubbled on the ground like dark acid, eating into the dirt with a sickening stench. Alaster wrinkled his nose and spun around, bolting for the front gates.

"Half-breed, vermin!" a familiar voice gargled. "You can't _kill_ a disease!"

Alaster froze mid-sprint (an impressive feat actually) and pivoted around, silver-blue tresses whipping about his shoulders like a banner of frayed silk. His soft wine colored eyes grew round and shocked. In the middle of the blood splattered road, rising like some kind of demented puppet, the child had begun to rise out of the dust, black fluid dripping down the front of her, her eyes dripping the same black filth, her pores seeping, every orifice in her tiny body pouring the disease.

"You aren't Yoko Kurama!"

He blinked. "Well, obviously," he retorted.

Then ran.

"GET HIM! GET HIM!" the girl screamed. "Don't bother to infect him! He's immune! Just kill him!"

_Immune?_ Alaster thought as he panted, sprinting for the front gates. _Why am I immune? How does she know I'm a half-breed? _All this darted through his brain as he ran, looking toward the upper ramparts. The heavy metal doors had probably been blockaded because the figures at the top of the walls milled frantically. Some had already starting tossing ropes over the edge of the fortifications in hopes of giving him a hand up.

He didn't really need one.

Quick as any thief or trained shinobi, he leapt on the roughly hewn castle walls and began to climb. And not just climb but really motor. The fox demon had a slight frame and a lot of physical power in that slight frame so his body to weight ratio was something incredible to behold. He had no trouble using a single hand to yank himself up so hard that he flew up ten feet to the next available handhold. In seconds he'd reached the top of the wall and scrambled over the top with a grin.

To his delight, his old ally Jin the Wind Master stood there waiting for him, blue eyes huge and luminous in his battle weary face. Obviously, seeing Alaster after the fiasco in the Dame Yume Forest came as a shock. He figured (rightly so) that neither Alaster nor Shizuru had any inkling of their dire situation with Karasu. Seeing Al rose a mess of unanswered questions that they had no time for currently.

"Al-," he started.

"ALASTER!" someone shrieked and suddenly something warm and blue-haired tackled him around the middle, sobbing uncontrollably. The poor fox yelp and toppled to the ground a mid a haze of confusion and blurred activity around them. The hordes…they were attacking…But the young half-demon dismissed those thoughts as he suddenly recognized the scent of flowers, sugar and gravedirt.

"Mother?" he cried in shock.

She didn't answer, only cried for both happiness and despair as the battle seethed around the wall of Yuusuke fortress. The blue-haired kitsune seized his tiny mother and pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his face in her neck and biting back tears. He hadn't seen her since he was a kit, because – like Mika Urameshi – his parents' lives were so fraught with peril to raise a child. The young hanyou held her like the rest of the world could fall away and she sobbed, hugging her only child and wishing that they could have met anywhere else but here.

"I'm…immune to it," he whispered raggedly, "because…of you?"

Botan wiped her eyed, but didn't draw back as she answered. "Yes. This disease will kill all demons and leave those of Reikai and Ningenkai heritage be. You won't die because of the illness. I'm so glad you're here. That I got to see you!"

Alaster hugged her tighter, inhaling the scent of his long lost mother, lingering in the seconds, the moment of having finally found someone from that time so long ago…when all the politics and the chaos had been a blurry 'problem' he could not comprehend. Secretly, he heard the hidden meaning in her gentle words, meant to be a comfort to a distressed child.

She'd said 'You won't die because of the sickness.' but she had not said 'You won't die.'

* * *

_**Death is only the beginning…**_

* * *

****

**Author's Note: **I'm thinking I see the end in the next chapter or the one after that. Just maybe.

**Cloud8.9:** I'm certain. But I do think this should end quickly. It's just so painful to watch… like a car-crash. You can't help but stare.

**Cheezit: **You want to get started on the Teen Titans' sequel or not? Hurry and wrap this up!

**Me: **I guess I don't have a lot of talking time so I'll be brief. Bye-bye! Be back soon!


	16. What Cloud Never Said

**Disclaimer: **The author of this fic is not currently sane enough to answer this legal copyright question. She will call you back when her sanity returns. Please leave a message and the beep. _Beep!_

**Story Thus Far: **Mika has landed in the company of Cloud and Veil who speed toward Yuusuke's fortress. The evil hordes of Jenny the disease apparition attack the front gates while Alaster and Botan are reunited. A lost soul has found his way back to reality and that leaves us all wondering what has happened to dear Kurama-kun. Shall we investigate?

Enjoy Chapter 16!

**What Cloud Never Said**

The pain…had grown…_unbearable_. Even to an aged creature such as himself who had suffered battle wounds, eradication and rebirth and an array of other torments most demons would cringe to think of doing much less experiencing. Yet, despite this sickening injustice, that one who had suffered so long might still yet have more terrible things in store for them, he found himself struggling to hope; still fighting with every particle of sanity not eaten away by pain.

He screamed. He couldn't help it, but he hardly cared, knowing that despite its failure to do anything to stop the agony, it provided his mind a split-second distraction to gather itself. Then his nerve endings swamped him with pain and he doubled up moaning and fighting back the desperation, the panic, the bestial instinct to live. He swayed and flung out his hand to brace himself on the stone, palm slapping the ground.

He stared at his hand, watching with morbid fascination as his own blood dribbled down the bare length of his arm, slithering down his skin to pool around his fingers in a thick puddle. The metallic scent of his own blood and sweat mingled in the subtle odors of emotional turmoil: pain, fear, anger and whatever wild sentiments his brain could concoct.

Another explosion just inches from his unprotected ribs. He screamed in pain as the blast ripped through the skin, spraying blood before the heat cauterized the wound, the force of the detonation throwing him against the wall like a rag doll. His head smacked the stone with a whip-lash motion, skull thudding against the stone with a sickening crack. He slid to the ground in a boneless heap, panting and shuddering, his whole body anticipating the next blow.

"Why don't you attack me?" crooned a gentle voice. He felt claws smoothing his burned and blood soaked hair. "Are you afraid I'll kill the little girl? Worried I'll have her dig her own heart out of her breast?"

"You would," he croaked, voice hoarse from his yelling. "You're quarrel is with me…not a girl."

A chuckle. "So right."

Another explosion, his shoulder again. Kurama loosed a tortured scream that cracked part-way through and he curled tightly on the floor, huddled like a wounded animal. His muscles went into spasms; the constant tension in his lithe body almost too much for his battered physique. Terrasuka, Touya, now Karasu; he'd fought them all to some degree. Exhaustion and trauma played funny games with his pain-glazed wits and for a moment, in a daze he wondered if he lost how Team Urameshi could possibly proceed. Hiei and Yuusuke would have to pull of something amazing and Kuwabara would have to pray for a miracle.

Then he remembered this wasn't the Dark Tournament.

He trembled, reaching up a hand to clutch an oozing wound across his forearm. Deep, bleeding gashes raked his skin in crisscrossing claw marks, crimson flowers blooming in long red stems across his once white dress-shirt. He imagined the poisonous infection breeding in his flesh, but didn't bother to worry about it, knowing that infection was the least of his problems right now. Especially for him.

Karasu, his dark jacket hiding well the dried blood that coated his body, smiled serenely. The familiar, gleeful expression, like that of a child at play and yet so cruel and psychotic that part of Kurama – the secret more human part – cringed. His lavender eyes gleamed crimson-purple as he fondled a familiar green orb of energy, tossing it playfully from finger to finger. He watched his victim's great green-gold streaked eyes, the way his gaze refused to look at the terrible green ball, locked unwaveringly on Karasu.

He flicked the orb at the fox and it exploded a foot over his battered and bleeding shoulders, the shock wave throwing him to the stone with a cry. His cheek smacked the ground and he went still, presumably knocked out with the blow…or finally passed out from the pain. The kitsune's pale, exotic features had gone slack, smeared with ash and blood, crimson running from his mouth and a gash over his right eye.

He reached delicately out and touched Kurama's temple with a spark of energy. The youko's eyes snapped open with a cry of pain and Karasu caught him under the chin, long fingers catching his jaw and turning his face up with a rough jerk. Green and gold irises burned with desperate defiance…fear kicked back into a dark corner of his mind to ignore. Karasu smirked, amused.

He still had hope.

"So you think you can still salvage victory from this?" he asked.

His question was so soft only Kurama could have heard it. The youko closed his eyes and through the blood and ash his battered lips pulled up in a smile so frail it might shatter with a breath.

"Yes."

Karasu struck him across the face and Kurama skidded across the floor on his back, stars blooming in his vision like a bouquet of white and black flowers. He felt consciousness slipping from him, ebbing like a tide from his body and he sucked a ragged gasp, chest heaving desperately to draw air into his aching lungs. He stared at the ceiling with stinging eyes, feeling wetness splashing from the corner of his eyes and cut a path through the blood and filth.

He felt his adversary grab his wrist, both of them with one hand, and pin them over his head, holding him down and kneeling over him with a small green orb between his thumb and forefinger. Kurama gazed at the ceiling, the curtains and the stone spinning and whirling together like they might become one. He felt heat against his belly, the gentle aura of the bomb resting on his abdomen.

"Do you still think you can win?" Karasu asked icily.

He closed his eyes.

"Yes!" he shouted again.

The explosion, pain, blood, screaming so ragged he might have cried.

"Do you still think you can win?"

Kurama clenched his eyes, pressing his head back, almost laughing through his pain.

"Yes! I can!"

_Pain! Burned flesh and agony! _Kurama screamed, but his lungs had no breath for it so he merely mouthed the cry, back arching. He sucked air, panting, gulping his cries like he could swallow them and stop them from coming right back up. He needed…to fight back…had to…defend himself. He felt his wrist pull against Karasu's hold and the seeds, in his clothing and shorn hair, react to his energy.

"Mika's still alive Kurama," said the quest demon with a smile.

His arm relaxed, his energy sank back into his soul and waited with docile impatience to be used. He couldn't…not with Mika's life on the line. He'd promised…He'd _promised_. He heard the indescribable noise of energy swirling into existence at Karasu's fingertips, the new instrument of torture. Kurama's thoughts plunged into his own mind, shutting out this body's physical wails,

_I promised. _

He felt skin tear and bleed before crystallizing, blistering shut in the heat. He writhed, knowing that as long as he didn't bleed out he could live to endure another round of the tiny explosives. He went deeper…

_I promised. I promised Yuusuke._

Heat! Blood! Ash and smoke. He felt his captor's laughter as gruff fingers grabbed up a fistful of his blood-sticky hair, wrenching his head back. His neck bent back so far he had to arch his back, gasping as razor sharp nails pricked the side of his throat, claws drawing themselves across the thin layer of skin…

_I promise Keiko. _

Closer…closer to the arch of his exposed throat. Karasu played no game this time. He'd had his time, his fun and now he wanted to see him die, drowning in his own blood, injured, in pain…totally helpless…

_I…I promised Mika! Mika! Mika wake up! _

Inches, centimeters, he'd puncture the windpipe in seconds. He'd swallow his blood until it filled his lungs full. His heart raced in his chest, blood thundering through his ears, cold fear spiking through him. He'd die. Then Mika would die and the cure would die with him. He needed her to wake…to save him…to save everything!

_**Please!** WAKE UP!_

_BAM!_

Mika opened her eyes in reality and Kurama's hand darted up to fast it might have teleported. He seized Karasu's wrist, stopping those killing fingers and with a brutal twist he threw the quest demon away from him. With a rapturous laugh fitting only that of Yoko's olden days, he rolled onto his side. Triumph and relief ran through him so hot his blood might have boiled in his veins as all thoughts of pain and weakness fled his mind and Kurama shoved himself to his feet, staggering only a step.

He hurled a single blade of grass, not bothering to grow it, at Karasu. The demon gasped, too started to dodge, letting it puncture a bleeding pinhole in the flesh over his heart.

Karasu fell back. He scrambled quickly to his feet with a look of horror and shock Kurama hadn't seen since he'd become Yoko at the Dark Tournament. He casually flicked a familiar seed into his fingers and leveled a dark look at his long-time rival and fear. Standing there, bleeding from the chest, haggard and shocked…he didn't seem nearly as scary to the fox thief as he had to Suiichi Minnamino.

"Once you're gone, the disease will dissipate," Kurama said coldly. "The cure will be easy to administer after that." Green energy began to gather in the seed until it look like a tiny bead of nuclear acid, blazing in his fingers. The seed from the Makai…the very same seed he'd used back then in his desperation, the blood drinking plant. Karasu recognized it, sensed it breeding in that tiny seed, hungry, germinating, merciless.

Kurama held out his hand. Once it bloomed it would drain the demon dry of all his dirty and polluted blood.

"Die."

_**I think not, youkai!**_

The booming voice exploded in Kurama's skull like a stick of dynamite. He gasped, eyes wide and surprised as he fell to his knees, the seed spilling on to the floor and erupting into a tangle of writhing, half-formed vines. Karasu made a noise, a wretched, wailing sound like that of a caught animal and darted away, blasting the doorway from his path and rushing into the corridor. Kurama didn't see this happen because he'd sunk to the ground, clutching his head and groaning.

**_Filth! Traitorous thief! I finally have you at my mercy, you abomination! I knew that foolish quest demon would underestimate you again, but I won't!_**

Enma…King Enma had found him at last.

* * *

Cloud paused. He sensed something off to his left and in his distraction slowed his run to a human jog. Of course, since his grip on Mika's upper arm remained firmly held, Veil – unaware of the dark angel's sudden compulsion to stop – keep right on running. Mika only saved herself from getting an arm ripped out of joint by wrenching her limb out of Cloud's slack hold and snarling at Veil to 'slow the hell down'.

Suffice to say, neither Veil nor Mika appreciated the shadowkai's lax stare-off-into-space thing he tended to do when thinking about something distant. Presently, the blond immortal did just that, staring into the dense forest with a look of either dreamy contemplation or intense meditation. Hard to differentiate between the two.

"What?" Mika snapped, surprisingly forgiving for nearly losing an arm.

"I think…but could she have…already?" he mumbled incoherently to himself.

"What are you babbling about?" Veil growled impatiently. "Are you coming or not?"

Cloud frowned as if the very same question had occurred to him. He didn't move for a long moment, staring into the trees with an expression of deepest loathing and yet…indecision. Like he needed but didn't want to do something very, very crucial out there in the NeverNever. Maybe he'd sensed something dangerous and deadly only he could defeat. Maybe he'd remembered something dire and important that required his immediate attention.

Maybe he'd gone mad.

"I'm sorry," he said, turning to the two. "I can't come with you. I have to…tend to something."

"I'll bet," Mika grumbled.

Veil pinched her and nodded to Cloud while she rubbed her arm and scowled. "Fine. Get going."

"Thanks."

Cloud took off into the trees, flickering out of perception that way his kind tended to do and suddenly the world became a blurring mass of shadowy trees zipping past, pinpricks of light darting overhead, blood red mist of the Makai atmosphere and most of all the growing sense of power in his mind's eye…right in front of him and drawing closer, ever closer, glowing like the light at the end of the tunnel until finally he burst through a wall of foliage and landed in normal reality, air hissing as he alighted.

His ruby red orbs took in the destruction with a level head, reasoning what kind of battle had occurred here. The trees had met with some kind of unstoppable blade, trunks shorn in two at the base, split down the middle. Giant Blood Oaks bled crimson sap into the forest floor, towering Midnight Pine hissing and spewing toxic fumes and casting a gray haze on everything.

The ground had been pounded, torn, destroyed. Craters fifteen feet in diameter made pock-marks across the barren stretch of battle field. Cloud took a step into the wasteland, his boot crunching a brittle twig and grinding it into a fine dust. He pondered quietly if she had survived, if he should – maybe – blame himself for not helping. Most of him sneered at the ludicrous prospect.

The secret part despaired.

Cloud's feet left the scarred earth and he leapt gently into the air, gliding across the clearing with nary a breath from the death dirt around him. The dying Pine hissed, breathing their last of poisonous gas into the dark atmosphere and the dark angel's ebony wings beat twice, silently, the black smoke clearing away with the sweeping motion of his feathers.

He saw something rise from a crater in front of him and slowed his flight to a wary floating. The figure was undoubtedly the girl, but he could not be certain if she still maintained her sanity after a battle with the assassin Blade. The shadowkai ventured a soft question, as if not expecting a real answer…which he wasn't.

"Is there a real reason you hate me so?" he murmured.

The figure stared at him, a waning arc of spirit energy clutched loosely in her fingers. Bleeding gashes in her shirt and pants revealed neatly sliced flesh, bruises and giant scratches marring her forehead, arms and legs like patchwork. Ambrosia eyes blinked slowly, the remains of her mask – half ripped off her face and bleeding mouth – clinging desperately to her chin.

He stepped down into the crater, his ruby eyed dim and expressionless. "Why did you find me? Why do you want me to hunt Karasu? Why? Why did you…" He stopped, also halting a couple feet off, within touching distance. "Is there a reason?"

She wordlessly raised her Spirit Sword and aimed it at his chest. He smiled thinly and closed his eyes, thinking she'd probably met with infection just like everyone else.

"I'm immune," she said coldly, suddenly. "I'm still human, Cloud. Despite what you might think."

He stared at her. Her eyes had grown so cold, so angry; her blood smeared her skin like a fine paint and yet her blade didn't waver from his ribs. She seemed to be contemplating whether or not to shove it between those ribs. Cloud assumed she still harbored a grudge for his abandoning her after they left Alaster. On that note, where had he gotten to?

"You didn't keep your promise," she whispered. Cloud jerked his gaze back to her face, startled. Those honey-colored eyes had grown over-bright, glistening and wet. Her slender mouth had become a very thin line as her trembling lips fought to come apart and spill something forbidden and shameful. She held her tongue a moment, her streaming eyes locked with his perplexed blood-red. "You…were supposed to kill him. You…said you would."

The blade lowered, her eyes didn't.

"You…lied," she said.

Cloud could only stare at her with an expression so lost it must have goaded Shizuru to go on. She gulped, swallowing a shuddering breathing and she gazed mutely at her feeble Spirit Sword. Cloud noticed for the first time the burned and battered body sprawled behind her. A limp hand swathed in rainbow cotton hung lifeless over a rock, neon orange overalls ripped and torn across her breast where the blade had torn her clear through.

"I didn't think…" Cloud began his voice soft as he looked at her, "that you cared."

Shizuru's eyes blazed suddenly and she threw her Spirit Sword form her hands, the weapon snuffing itself like a candle. She leapt forward and seized the front of his jacket, hauling his forward by the lapels, eyes screwed shut so her tears dripped from the corner of her eyes like drops from a wrung towel. The demon huntress heaved what could have been a snarl or a sob and shook him halfheartedly, punching his shoulder.

"_He's dead_!" she screamed, clutching his shirt. "He's dead! Kazuma is _dead_! Karasu killed him because you didn't you lying bastard! You said, you promised and now they're all dead! Dead because of him and it's your fault all over again! Your fault! _Do you hear me?_"

Cloud's hands took her shoulders roughly and she turned her loathing eyes up to look at his unreadable face. Her telepathy told her nothing in that face, slid across those irises like red glass. He still stared at her, like he couldn't say anything…maybe he couldn't. Could he deny what he'd always believed about the relationship between himself and Karasu.

No. He didn't think even a liar like himself could believe that deception.

"You're right," he said softly, his hand straying to her burned fingers, seared by overuse of her spirit energy. "You're right. Everything is my fault…everything because I inspired him to do it. Even back then. Even now."

It was Shizuru's turn to look startled. "What?"

He smiled, holding her hand. "When I first came to the surface…I met Karasu and we were perfect partners. He persuaded me to give him more power, to give him access to his true potential though I sensed the deep well of darkness in his spirit. He grew obsessed with refining his techniques on the living."

"He did terrible things…with me always watching by his side," Cloud murmured, smiling a sad kind of smile that horrified Shizuru and fascinated her. Like a car accident…she could look away from this ten car stack-up of a living creature.

"After a term, we grew interested in humans, he and I. We mingled among them, killed them, learned and laughed at them. He grew fond of their literature…the darker kind. He used to often quote it to me on our lazier nights, though I had no interest in human writing. He used to always recite a poem…a poem about a Raven who came for the soul of a wretched and lonely man. A devil in the disguise of a bird."

Shizuru didn't answer, though Cloud paused, waiting for her reaction. Getting none he went on.

"Sometimes he fancied himself as the Raven…other times said I was the black bird in the poem. He called me little raven – ahh, now you see it – he said I was a demon spawn from the bottom of the Makai, send in the form of a bird to claim his dark soul. He was…fond of the dramatics…even then."

"Little raven?" she repeated. The girl pulled her hand out of his. "You…he made this nightmare disease…you…"

Cloud didn't flinch. "Yes, he made this disease after me, to taunt me or to frighten me, I'm not certain. He thinks of it as some kind of sweet sentiment, a compliment to me for all the years we worked together. I think he does this also to enact vengeance on your ally, Kurama. I think he saw something of me in the kitsune…possibly why he…took a liking to him during the Dark Tournament. So even now…this disease…it's my fault in a way."

The demon huntress stared and stared.

"When I ran into you on that cruise ship all those decades ago and went after Karasu, I promised myself as much as you that I'd make him pay," Cloud mused, looking off into the Makai atmosphere. "I wanted to kill him…for myself…most of all for you. Because I knew that you wanted me to and I did try at first – really I did – but I just never could follow through…Even for you."

Shizuru continued to back away, as if increasingly horrified. Odd. He'd thought for sure she'd be delighted to hear that all the hateful things she'd thought about him were, in fact, perfectly true. He went on without missing a beat.

"He's always had me fooled. In the palm of his hand even when my abilities surpass his." He looked placidly at the wide-eyed woman. "Do you know what I mean? Even Kurama must have shared something like that with you. The feeling that Karasu could beat him, even if he'd surpassed the monster in skill. He's good at that."

"How can you…You could have killed him! Don't say nice words to cover up your failures!" she screamed.

Her heart pumped, blood stealing the paleness from her cheeks. Could she say it? Tell him that 'yes', Kurama had told her just that, that maybe she knew exactly what he was talking about. She couldn't do that though. Because she'd held onto this for far too long and Cloud didn't deserve to get off with her sympathy. She wouldn't let his excuses – Fear! Ha! Him; scared to die. What a laughable thought. – pry into her emotions. No.

"Don't try to get out of your guilt!"

"I'm not. I failed. I was scared and I ran. I'm a coward. Are you happy?"

"NO!"

He smiled that thin, sad smile again. "I didn't think so. "

"I hate you!" she hissed. "I hate you so much…"

Cloud turned his head toward the sky, tipping his head aside as if listening for something only he could hear. He stared at Shizuru again, that same expression in place, that sad, meaningless expression like he wanted to comfort and torture her with it. The ground at his feet began to swirl, oily black energy pulsating and growing outward like a giant vortex of negative youki.

The dark angel slowly wrapped his arms around himself; wings folded at his back like the air had grown too cold. He looked at her with that sad, sad smile and suddenly she had a good idea just what that expression meant. She stared at those ruby orbs across the growing void of black energy boiling up under him, her cider-colored gaze torn and tormented like a soul split in two. She prayed…no…don't say it…

"I'm glad," he whispered. "It would have been…too much to hope that you loved me."

Sable light gathered at his chest and billowed out from his centre, filling his skin like some kind of shimmering ebony smoke until all trace of pale flesh filled with pure untainted blackness. The sheer _presence_ of his power – no…not his power but something he'd _summoned_ – overwhelmed her and the girl toppled back against the lip of the crater.

_I knew you'd call on me one day, _whispered a voice, feminine, dark and insubstantial as smoke and a butterfly kiss. _I did tell you…warn you…the Surface is no place for you. Come. There is one last task I ask you perform._

"Cloud!" she shouted into the swirling black, shielding her face with her arm. "CLOUD! Wait, what do you mean by-!"

She stared.

He'd gone. Vanished. There was nothing left save a black feather, charred and brittle on the scarred battle ground.

* * *

"So you're…Jenny, is it?"

She smiled.

"Yes," she purred, stroking her precious staff and smiling sweetly. The disgusting thing undulated beneath her touch, dripping yellow eyes trained on the hovering dragon-demon. "And you're General Veil. The last of Yuusuke's strongest men and the only thing keeping me from ripping this miserable stone keep to the ground…I admit, you're a very strange and attractive kind of demon, aren't you. A shame. Would you like to get out of my way?"

He also smiled, having left Mika Urameshi on the wall top behind him, clutching something precious and frail in her sweaty palms. But he knew, without a doubt, that despite giving them Yuusuke's final message and delivering the Toushin's only daughter to…relative safety that they still needed on last service from him. One last favor before he most likely went down in a crash and burn blaze of dragon-fire and energy.

They needed _time_.

"No, I'm not going to get out of your way," he said arrogantly, voice unusually snide for the young dragon youkai. His pale eyes narrowed. "And for the record, I don't appreciate you stinking up my lord's kingdom. I'd like _you_ to leave."

She pouted. "Such a pity," she hissed. "I'll make you my new toy when I've infected you."

She pointed her staff at him, violent red energy gathering at the point before a flurry of needle-sharp barbs swarmed her, piercing her through and throwing off her aim. The beam of devastating purple energy missed by meters and Veil bobbed under it, cutting through the air and rising up to watch coldly as his victim stood up, black ooze pouring from her wounds. Her lips pulled in a horrifying kind of grin, blood spilling over her chin and dribbling onto the road.

"Can't kill a disease, sweetie," she crooned. "Come here. I'll make it quick."

Veil's eyes blazed ember red and he coiled his hands, hurling a flaming orb of concentrated dragon breath. The girl screeched as the miniature sun crashed into her chest and exploded. Veil leapt back, souring high in the air overhead to evade the residual black splatter. He coughed slightly at the stench of boiling disease and blood, the smoke fading from the dirt oath until he could make out the damage.

Jenny still stood, her body torn and chunks dropping off her horribly blackened flesh, but even as he watched, the ooze seemed to slither back up her legs and squeeze back inside her flesh, reforming. Veil pursed his lips, fangs pricking his mouth as his metal barbs buzzed in the air around him. The little girl grinned again and picked up her smoking staff from the ground, tottering up and aiming at him once more.

"Let's have a kiss," she giggled.

While Veil dealt with this increasingly disturbing problem, up on the wall a frustrated Mika Urameshi tried to calm the throng of panicking soldiers and family members crowding around her. Several of the less stable men had started screaming at her to surrender to Jenny so some of them would be spared, others tugging on her T-shirt and blathering about how the 'daughter of lord Yuusuke' would save them. That last batch of soldiers had, thankfully, turned their attentions to the battle between Veil and Jenny.

Another problem she faced was the hysterical screaming of her mother, who both hugged and kissed her in mother-like ecstasy and scolded her feverishly for arriving at the worst possible time. She ignored Mika's frantic attempts to speak by bawling about how dangerous everything was right now and why she was stupid for coming and where the hell Kurama was. Blah, blah and so forth.

"Mom! Stop talking I have to -,"

"Don't backtalk me! Mika! You shouldn't be here! Why didn't you stay with Kurama?" Keiko screamed at her flustered daughter. "Get off this wall right now. To the medical tent. It's safer."

Mika protested as the Empress of the Third Realm dragged her down a long flight of stone steps, batting any slow men out of her way and hauling the sixteen year old down the stairs and toward a large white canvas tent pitched in the middle of the fortress courtyard. The stone fountains and gardens had been cleared and burned by enemy fire, only the tent stood in the desolate grounds.

"Mom! Veil brought me here. I can't just leave when he's fighting for his life!" she cried.

"Yes you can. And you will," Keiko snarled, throwing her daughter into the med-tent like a mother cat throws a kitten. "Now what is it you're trying to tell me?"

Mika started to hold up the paper but… "MIKA! Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?"

The girl groaned as a familiar bluette leapt up from the nearest bed, abandoning briefly the silver-blue youko seated there. Mika blinked at the kitsune, wondering why he looked so damn familiar as the ferry-girl began to pat her down and examine her for damage. As she deliberated, she realized this could be none other than Alaster, the other second generation Reikai Tantai.

"Botan. Not right now…this is…important…" she said weakly, waving the paper. "Dad told me…told Veil…DAMMIT LISTEN TO ME!"

"Don't curse," the two mothers chorused at her.

"Alaster!" she cried desperately. She held out the paper to him and he quickly took it from her fingers as the two maternal mothering machines wrestled the girl down and started subjecting her to extensive check-ups. Bandages and herbal salves flew rampant.

The kitsune sat down and the strange little girl, Minna, crawled up beside him and curled up on his tail, hugging it and snoozing happily. Alaster examined the drawing closely, reading quickly the familiar scrawling test of the Ice Master Touya; quick, curt strokes, neat and clear in their message to the reader of the note. He felt his stomach jolt and leapt to his feet, eyes going wide and impossibly round.

"M-mother…" he said weakly.

Botan turned away from bandaging a small cut on Mika's shin. "Yes?"

He blinked up at her. "I know the cure."

Everything stopped. Keiko and Botan and (a heavily bandaged and herbal smelling) Mika looked toward him with mixtures of disbelief, hope and relief. Mika pulled a wad of gauze from her mouth and coughed.

"That…that right there. That flower will cure everyone who's sick if they breathe the pollen," she gasped. He started digging in her pocket, desperately pulling something from her sweats and handing it to the half-breed. "Alaster. Can you bloom anymore of these flowers? It's the same. Kurama gave it to me when I was infected."

Alaster grimaced.

"Mika?"

"Yes?"

"Did…you sit on this?"

He held up the sad, withered and crumpled remained of the flora, its petals ripped out, stem crumpled, shredded and damage beyond repair or recognition. The kitsune's expression was one of both greatest apology and self-loathing and Mika kicked herself for forgetting that Al, though gifted with the art of plant manipulation, was no Yoko Kurama.

"You can't repair it can you?" Keiko asked softly.

He looked sadly up at through a curtain of ragged silver-blue. "No. I need a fresh seed." His gentle fingers cradled the dead flower Mika had tried to give him. "I'm sorry. If I was better at this, I could regenerate it and make more but…"

"It's not your fault," Mika cut in. "We'll get the seed."

"I don't know where it is."

"Then we'll find it."

"Dreaming Bell is very rare."

"Then we'll find Kurama. He'll know."

"We haven't seen my father for years. We were hoping _you_ knew where he was."

Mika looked flustered, staring around the tent at the various expressions of hopelessness. "Well, _dammit_! Stop looking so gloomy! We'll get out of this. You guys just have to buck up a bit. We'll beat this thing."

Keiko smiled warmly at her daughter and hugged her tightly, kissing her forehead lovingly. "Just like him. You're right. We'll just have to start searching. No matter what."

But it was at this moment that Minna chose to pick up Touya's neatly drawn picture and grin happily at everyone, not understanding in the slightest what was going on. She giggled and waved the picture happily, running in merry circles as she rifled through her pockets for something. Alaster watched her while Keiko and the other two females began plotting escape routes under the castle to run to refuge until they could leave to hunt the exotic flower.

So it was Alaster who saw, solely, the one good thing the Fates had blessed them with. Minna dug into her pockets and pulled a large gray seed from the fold and scrunched her face. It bloomed and immediately filled he hand with brilliant white petals and the aroma of sugar cookies and frosting. Mika perked up at the scent and Alaster gaped, staring wordlessly at the bloom.

Minna handed it to him, stuffing it in his hands. "For you," she giggled. "You're pretty."


	17. Sweet Nepenthe

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it. Got over it. Get on with your lives people.

**Story Thus Far: **If you've gotten to this chapter then you seriously don't need me to tell you what happened.

Enjoy Chapter 17!

**Sweet Nepenthe **

"You can't dance around forever, Veil-chan!"

The dragon youkai grunted and dove aside, barely evading the violet-red blast that ripped through the tree-line behind him. He panted – yes, panted – and sprung away again, legs barely mustering the strength to kick off the ground and propel him out of harm's way. Jenny's fleshy staff pierced the dirt like a javelin, burying itself in the road and quivering there, rolling eyeballs trained on him. It went limp and slithered like a black, oozing snake back to its mistress.

The young draconic demon clutched his side, gritting his teeth, fangs bared. His wounded flank dripped between his fingers, making his hand slick and wet with his own hot blood. Jenny smiled down at him, her giant horde of infected lined like an audience for a cock-fight behind her. He knew she chose not to call them to her, delighting in slowly, slowly wearing him down; knowing none of his attacks could hurt her.

She just kept attacking and attacking, knowing that he wanted her to attack him. She knew he was trying to buy time, but she didn't care because she didn't think that his plan – whatever it was – would work. She just enjoyed herself, giggling and taunting as the red-haired youkai struggled to stand, his great black wings bent and crushed, bones shattered throughout the length of the leathery limbs.

He shuddered and once again his metal barbs swarmed the disease apparition with no effect. Exhausted, the dragon demon's outstretched arm went limp, falling in the dust. Jenny giggled somewhere overhead. Veil grimaced, making a face and trying to pull his arm back in so he could try to get up, but his muscles wouldn't obey. His broken wings pinned him against the bloody ground, his fatigue making it impossible to stand under the weight of his own crippled limbs.

He felt the girl crouch beside him, stinking of disease. She reached out and touched his head, making him cringe at the slimy sensation of her fingers.

"My new toy," she purred, stroking his hair lovingly. "I'll keep you aware for now. So you can watch everything crumble. Don't feel bad. You were destined to lose."

He raised his head, trembling with the effort. "You're nothing," he told her with a laugh.

"Nothing, am I?"

She raised her staff, aiming at his unprotected skull. Her grin had grown blood-thirsty, her expression wild and erratic. "Once you're _dead_, tell me who's nothing!"

"Wait!"

Jenny stopped her staff in the first motion of falling. Her gaze swung around to fix on the new voice, black, oiling orbs finding the source and smirking. She turned away from the fallen General and faced the speaker. A stale wind stirred her dark chocolate tresses, wide mocha eyes hard with an expression of morbid determination. Dressed in sneakers, sweats and a T-shirt she didn't look ready for battle. Her gaze began to glow, growing steadily electric blue.

Standing behind her, the half-breed youko stood with a similar look in his dark wine-hued orbs. His silver-blue hair billowed in that same stale wind; making him look every bit like his father. He bore no weapon save a couple seeds in his fingers and his tail kept flicking nervously back and forth. A pale nimbus had begun to shimmer about him, visible only to those who looked for it.

"Leave him alone. I'm Mika Urameshi, Yuusuke's daughter and heir and you'll fight me for the castle," the raggedy looking teenager shouted defiantly.

The disease apparition smirked and raised her staff, pointing it at the kitsune who merely waved a couple fingers at her in recognition. Jenny thought she'd like to see him suffer with the dragon and licked her oozing lips. "What about the pretty hanyou? When I kill you can I have him?"

"No. You're going to lose," Mika told her blandly. "Alaster's too old for you anyway."

The youko shrugged, looking modest and the heir to the Third Realm stepped up, fists glowing a brilliant royal blue. Her pixie-cut brown hair fluttered and fanned out about her gentle curved face like a peacock spreading its tail-feathers. The air around her crackled with power, the particles in the space between them shimmered and Jenny eyed the iridescence gleam with something like suspicion.

Mika smiled a very sly and devious kind of grin. "One hit…it's all I have right? Once I hit you…you'll infect me and that'll be that, so I really hope this kills you."

Jenny held her arms wide, grinning like a mother inviting her child to run to her. "Then hit me, little girl. You cannot kill a disease. I am immortal."

The evil little girl began to laugh hysterically and the two teenagers exchanged looks of deepest aggravation. Mika put a finger in her ear and rotated it around, wincing while Alaster flattened his two canine ears, giving them the occasional twitch. Yuusuke's daughter nodded faintly to the youko who flicked half a dozen somethings into the infected crowd of demons and whistled innocently, hands behind his back.

"So come at me then," Jenny leered, not noticing the transaction. "I am more then ready for you!"

Mika nodded faintly as the scent of sugar frosting filled the air, a delicate mist of fine yellow pollen floating over the road like a blanket. Jenny still didn't notice anything amiss. Mika gave Alaster a puzzled look and he shrugged his shoulders. Mika mirrored his gesture and spun, darting at the black-haired little brat with all the speed her genetics could muster. Jenny didn't bother to move or even attack with her staff, leering still; waiting for Mika to come to her sharp little nails.

With a roaring battle cry Mika slammed her fist against her middle, through the child and up into her chest with a brilliant blaze of azure blue. She grinned, fist deep inside the disgusting, oozing innards of the girl, black fluid spurting out around her fist.

"Bang," she whispered.

BANG!

Blue light erupted like a grenade from the teenager's fist. Jenny exploded in a wet chunky shower of flesh, slop and smoke; the shockwave blasted Mika backwards into a waiting Alaster, who caught her and swung her around to keep from being plowed over by her flying body. Ooze splattered the road, coating everything and the two companions froze in one another's arms, watching with held breath as the steaming Jenny chunks gave a twitch…a shudder…as if trying to draw themselves together…

…and dissolved completely in the pollen.

Mika gave a shriek of wild ecstasy and began leaping up and down like a jack rabbit, dancing around and pulling a very flustered Alaster along with her. The entire castle occupants overhead roared in victory, rattling armor and shields and weapons, banging and stomping around in joy that, in fact, they all would _not_ die. Mika meanwhile had bounced herself around Alaster, almost sobbing in happiness.

The kitsune looked a bit pink.

"Okay! We have to start spreading this stuff all over the Realm," Mika said suddenly, releasing the half-blood. "Got any more of those seeds?"

He nodded mutely, looking like his tongue had stuck to the roof of his mouth and handed her a large bouquet of the things. She looked delighted and immediately ran up to the confused and somewhat disturbed looking crowd of demons Jenny had infected. The cured individuals all looked abashed, horrified, amused, tired or a combination of the previous. She began handing her flowers to those who looked strong or had wings.

"Take these and start flying everything where with them. The pollen is a cure," she explained while handing them out. "Here, take this and fly back to Yomi's kingdom. Take this one and … HEY! You! Get back here. I want you go to Kumuro's kingdom with these five here…and you lot! Look lively! I don't want to see another flower here when I say 'three.'"

She paused.

"THREE!"

Every flower bearing youkai had darted away. She dusted off her palms on her sweats and turned back to Alaster, who seemed oddly impressed. She grinned at him and hooked an arm over his shoulders, gesturing to the remaining troops to head back inside the castle. She grinned at Alaster who returned the smile with a small grin of his own.

"Nice job, Al. Wait until your dad hears about this," she sang. "He'll have kittens."

"Eh?"

"Umm…never mind. Let's just celebrate."

* * *

Kurama felt mental blade pierce his skull and he screamed; grabbing his skull like it would shatter. He thrashed helplessly, unable to do anything to stop the terrible mental assault as it tore into his thoughts, ripped through his mind like ravaging claws sinking into fresh meat. His body jerked, twisted, and writhed; his spine arched off the floor as he heaved a throat stripping scream of pain.

He had to…getaway somehow…escape it. But how? How?

The kitsune shuddered, feverish eyes darting around the room as his mind ignited with fire and pain, destroying his sanity. He rolled onto his stomach, his skin flushed with blood and heat, then going suddenly deathly cold as his brain faltered, struggled, tried to make sense of the sudden confusion. His heart raced, slowed, and then skipped a beat… then another. Too much. Too much strain! His demon core would simply implode and he'd cease to exist. He moved a twitching arm, reaching, fingers fumbling across the uneven stone, crawling blindly. He had to get away…something…

Anything.

Enma's power seized him, brutal telepathic fists grabbing Kurama as surely as any real opponent. They took hold of his muscles and without his consent he shoved himself onto his back and lay there, panting, pupils contracting to pinpricks in his eyes, sweat dripping from his skin. Everything felt…so hot! He felt Enma's presence in his mind, digging, digging deeper into him; penetrating him until he found the fox demon's center.

_S-stop… _

**_The cure shall not be found! _**roared Enma, deafening the kitsune. He watched with growing horror as the ceiling over head dissolved, melting away to reveal a gaping fissure in reality, a dark void from which a pair of flaming red eyes pierced his own. **_You will not leave here alive and ruin everything again, you disgusting demon waste! I'll destroy the Makai's youkai petulance with this disease. Then I'll destroy that deplorable THING you've spawned with a daughter of the Reikai! _**

_Please…don't hurt them. _Kurama felt his blood run cold, his chest contracting, his core slowly extinguishing. _Leave Alaster…and Botan. You've no reason to…_

_**I need no reason! I am the power behind everything! I am power and my will be done! I AM GOD!**_

"Sorry, my dear lord father, but that's not necessarily true," a voice drawled.

Kurama gasped, coughing violently as the strain on his lungs, heart and brain vanished, allowing him to collapse against the stone. His blood rushed freely through his veins, oxygen pouring through his lungs like a cure for a deadly venom and he lay there gasping. Through his violent hacking, he'd missed the first part of the argument with Enma and the new voice…a familiar voice…one he hadn't heard in decades.

" – so you see, it's all very official. The vote's been had and it looks like you've lost," explained that familiar voice, pompous and all-knowing as ever he remembered it. "I guess you didn't properly consider the consequences of unleashing genocide and death upon the populace of an unwary Makai. It seems you should have checked with the Higher Powers, because they're not very happy."

_**Koenma! What have you done?**_

Kurama felt himself smile at the shock in the yami's voice, the sudden, horrible realization of something devastating. He'd never heard anything more satisfying in all his long, long life. He watched with a grin as the Reikai Prince, ragged and weary looking as he appeared with robes torn, blood on his hands, brown hair stringy with sweat, picked at something on his sleeve cuff.

"I've spoken with the Council and they've decided they don't want you ruling Spirit World anymore," he informed the King of the Reikai with a slight arch of the brow, infuriatingly casual. "I've had my say and they've all decided it's time I take up the throne. They want you're resignation papers on their desk in the morning."

_**KOENMA YOU BASTARD CHILD!**_

"Am I?" the prince, now king, asked with a placid look. "Well, I guess you should have mentioned _that_ before they made me King of the Reikai."

**_You've ruined everything! You weak-willed fool of a son, you've handed the kingdom of Spirit World to the youkai scum! They will consume everything, destroy all, demolish the dynasty I've built for you! Is that what you would rule? A WASTELAND?_**

Koenma looked coldly up at the ceiling into the dark, swirling void where his father looked over them. "You were doing a fine job of trying to destroy the Ningenkai. You failed and now you've failed to destroy the Makai. The Council has ruled out a perfect punishment for you. Seeing how you enjoy chaos and causing it, they've assigned you a new kingdom to rule over. I'm certain you're familiar with the dark angel, Cloudhunter?"

"Cloud actually," Kurama corrected curtly.

"Yes. Cloud," Koenma nodded to Kurama in thanks. Enma was making un-kingly sputtering sounds overhead. "His Mistress Mother had graciously agreed to have you join her in ruling the Unlit. The dark underworld of the Makai is fraught with the chaos and destruction you so cherish."

_**NO!**_

"Yes," a deep, leering voice taunted.

Kurama rose to his feet, smiling as the familiar figure stepped through the entryway door Koenma had just entered from.

He ignored the kitsune, more interested in the horrified realization poured from Enma's psyche. He wore the same black jacket hanging nearly to his ankles, the sleeves torn out and exposing the still bandaged length of his right arm. His silver katana in his hand remained brilliant like newly minted coin, his eyes burnt cinnamon red. He hadn't changed in over a century it seemed to Kurama.

Hiei Jaganshi grinned his most vampirish kind of grin, pearly fangs bared. The metal buckles about his throat jangled and he fiddled with the hilt of his blade, like he cared less what drama occurred overhead. Then again, he didn't really have to look up to see. Burning in the centre of his forehead, his Jagan Eye stared fixedly up at the former Reikai King, its unblinking gaze pinning the yami. As they watched it seemed that Enma's dark figure had begun to blur and fade before their very eyes.

_**You! You woke my son! With that demon eye of yours!**_

"You killed Mukuro," he explained mildly, sheathing his blade. "I'm taking her throne back. Kurama and I are going to clean up the mess you've made in her kingdom. Your disease is already dwindling into nothing but feeble memory and you…" His smile grew darker. "You'll have a new playmate to worry about, asshole."

Koenma waved. "Don't bother to keep in touch."

Enma might have screamed but he didn't get the chance. Whatever power the Council had, they used it right then and the former lord of the Reikai winked out of existence and the gaping void over head knitted itself neatly back up so the trio stared intently up at the burn-scarred ceiling. They all thought for a moment they heard a soft feminine chuckling darkly from somewhere but it could have been nothing. Hiei looked up at Koenma, glaring at him with his two red orbs given to him and birth and bound his Jagan up behind a plain black headband.

"You'll hold up your end of the bargain?"

The new King of Spirit World bowed slightly. "Of course. I need to get back to Headquarters and start sorting the paperwork. From the sounds of things-," He said this while cocking his head, listening with some new god-like powers. "- Yuusuke's won the battle. Seems Mika and Alaster have the cure and are spreading it around the Third Realm as we speak. I'm certain you, Kurama and the others can take clean up the rest of that pesky disease for me?"

Hiei looked momentarily murderous and Kurama glowered slightly but Koenma skirted the fire demon before he could get violent and popped out of existence in that way only Koenma could. By the time the Jaganshi blinked, the young ruler had relocated himself in the Reikai and safely away from the irate demon. Kurama rolled his eyes, feeling like a Spirit Detective all over again, crossing the floor and exiting the room with Hiei falling into step beside him. Silence. He gazed pensively at his former partner.

The smaller youkai shot his an arsenic laced glare. "What?"

"You came," he said simply.

He snorted. "Like you foolish, fettered idiots could ever take care of yourselves. I wanted my throne back, fox. Nothing more."

The kitsune and the Jaganshi turned into a main hallway, the giant gaping doors at the end leading into the main Makai portal in the Reikai. As they both pushed the doors open and stepped into the demon world Kurama smiled, careful not to let the irritable fire demon see it.

"Never did I imagine it."

* * *

Touya stared up at the sky overhead, feeling his muscles slowly loosening from over an hour of frozen stasis. The scent of over-sweetened air hung thick and he sneezed quietly, grimacing at the dizzying sensation it sent through his aching head. He sat up and folded his legs under him, waiting patiently for his body to get over the trauma of over-reaching his limits and opening itself up to the power of Ice.

He shivered, remembering the ultimate freezing chill of the Element burning through his spirit, encasing him in unforgiving permafrost. He rubbed his raw arms, still red and burned from over use of his element in the last couple days. He felt thin, stretched…utterly exhausted. His pale blue eyes swept the broken battle-field and he sighed heavily, hoping to whatever powers listened that his friends survived.

He thought dimly of Jin, Shizuru, Alaster and Yuusuke. Did Kurama manage to escape Karasu's claws? That girl? Mika?

The Ice Master closed his eyes and sighed, part of him burning angrily with the knowledge of having been used, manipulated and forced to do such horrible things to those who would call him ally. He reached up a pale hand and held to against his forehead, pressing fingers to his temple to sooth the throbbing ache. His throat burned for some reason he couldn't distinguish and his eyes stung suddenly with the memory of Jin's horrified face, Kurama's open betrayal, Yuusuke's heart-wrenching grief, Alaster's shock, Shizuru trying with everything she had to decide if she had the heart to kill him.

He lowered his hand to his eyes and covered them, his other hand clenching against his thigh, gripping the fabric near his knee until his fist trembled. He knew he hadn't done those things…not purposely, but he couldn't…stop seeing them in his mind like a sick slideshow. He wanted to block it all out but minds like Touya's didn't easily dismiss anything, not even that which he couldn't stand to see.

For a moment…he wished…he didn't know what he wished. Maybe that he could have given Yuusuke that message and died. Just melted into quietness, let death take him to whatever lay beyond for confused and icily petulant souls like himself. He felt something against his fingers and peeled his hand away from his face, realizing his tears had become frost on his skin and tried stoically to rub it off, feeling ridiculous.

To start having emotions right then; what an idiotic notion. Like that would help him in anyway at all. Tears didn't change the past. He managed to stand up, his knees threatening for a moment to give out beneath him but they didn't and the ice demon managed to steady himself, folding his arms around himself like…well…a lot like he was cold…not that he actually was mind you, but _like_ he was.

"Aye! Touya! Up here!"

The Ice Master looked up, blinking as a strong wind swept through the barren battleground, tugging at his mis-matched green bangs and whipping at his tattered clothes. The blue-eyed, grinning face of a familiar Wind Master zoomed into view and dive-bombed the startled ice demon, tackling him in a giant bear-hug that very nearly put the ice youaki into another coma.

"Jin!" he gasped, the larger shinobi hugging the air out of his lungs in joy.

"Touya! I'm so glad yer being okay! I though' you'd had it when Yuusuke showed up at th' castle an tol' meh what happened but yer alright! Everyone's cured an' th' whole lot o' th' kingdom's all partyin' and prancin' around and throwin' a grand old toime! Come on! If we hurry we kin get back an' catch Mika's karaoke!" Jin chattered, talking a mile a minute the way he did when too happy to express himself at everyday speed.

"Karaoke?" Touya asked doubtfully.

"Aye!" He said, giant blue eyes glowing with happiness. "Ain't it great to be bein' alive?"

The Ice Master stared up at him for a long moment…then his mouth pulled in one of those very, very rare, once-in-a-blue-moon, genuine smiles that made all the age and ice melt from his features. Maybe, he thought, seeing the happy faces of all those allies he'd so worried about…maybe seeing them would somehow make things okay…somehow. He grabbed Jin's wrist tightly as the wind demon took to the skies. Though he didn't relish the idea of dancing demons, he managed to remark to himself without the slightest trace of sarcasm.

"Yes…I suppose it is."

* * *

"Are you going to be okay?" Alaster asked.

The amber-eyed girl started as someone fell into the seat next to her, sitting down on the empty chair. She watched him flick his ears anxiously, looking at her with his great raspberry eyes, worry etched in every line of his young face. His big sister smiled and ruffled his hair the way he loathed and cupped her chin in the palm of her hand. She gestured something to the effect of 'yeah, yeah' with a large goblet of…chai tea? Alaster sniffed, wrinkling his nose with a small look of distain.

She grinned. "I'm going to be fine…I just need some time…"

"Time to what?" Al wanted to know, speaking up over the dim of celebrating youkai filling the castle halls.

Yuusuke's court amassed with happy youkai, dancing and bouncing around happily to the musical stylings of Mika Urameshi…who wasn't half bad on the wooden spoon she'd substituted for a mic. She currently had her mother and Botan cha-chaing across a table with her. Yuusuke laughed hysterically while a deeply glowering Veil tried without success to get away from him. His broken wings had been healed, but still looked sore because he winced every time Yuusuke yanked him back.

They'd received word from Kumuro's kingdom only to hear that – by some sudden and wild inspiration – Hiei Jaganshi had come out of hiding to reclaim Mukuro's throne, thoroughly killing the usurping ruler currently on the throne and telling anyone who had a problem with his rule, they could take it up with his katana or complain to Koenma…the new King of the Reikai.

No one complained. Most feared Hiei's katana everyone else knew Koenma would misplace the paperwork.

Kurama had checked in to inform everyone that Yomi wanted him to take the cure all over the Makai and it would be a couple months before he could get back. He'd also had a private conversation with Botan that a couple people tried to listen in on and got hit with an oar as a result. Botan broke off communication with her husband, looking both happy and disappointed all at once.

But apparently the fox had made her quite an extraordinary promise as to the method of celebration when he finally got home. She seemed content with that anyway.

Shizuru heaved a deep breath and sipped her drink looking thoughtfully skyward.

"To get over it…let it go I guess…" sighed the demon huntress. She reached up to run a hand through shorn golden hair. "Kazuma would have wanted me to…he would have wanted me to a long time ago. I'm just slow on the up-take"

Alaster smiled and hugged her gently. "Don't worry…something tells me…Kazuma's laughing where ever he is."

"You think Karasu bit it?"

He nodded to the young woman who smiled very slyly as he went on, grinning.

"I have…a feeling…" he said, eyeing the black feather Shizuru had slipped behind her ear.

* * *

Karasu had gotten quite lost in the time since he'd departed from Kurama's company. No, no, don't take it like that, he hadn't lost his way in the maze of the Reikai fortress, he'd actually vanished from that place completely. He didn't know, but Enma had lost his gambit against the Makai and now both he and those who the Higher Powers thought deserved it were getting their up commence.

He staggered in the darkness, unable to see anything in the black shroud about him, blind in the shadows so deep it seemed that light never existed in this place. If not for the rocks and stone obstacles he kept stumbling into he would have thought himself dead, swept through the River Styx and into the oblivion…or something.

He tripped over an invisible something and sprawled in the darkness, cursing and clawing at the stone in fury. He'd been foiled, cheated and humiliated again! Not just for the second time but the third. That Kurama! That damn fox. He'd get the miserable redhead yet, kill him, torture the fool and his filthy little family at his pleasure and let them die slowly, kill the wife, then the child, then let Kurama live for a time with that pain…then kill him too.

That promise of vengeance kept Karasu going for a bit…then he heard something in that dark.

_Tup!_

The gentle sound of a foot on the stone behind him and he spun hurling an array of explosives. They detonated in a sudden blast of red and yellow fire, igniting and illuminating the dark world. Karasu's lavender eyes widened a bit at the sight of endless, sprawling stone figures, caverns, stalagmite the side of Tokyo Tower, canyons of black that fell away into nothing as his tiny light fought to pierce the sacred shadows.

They went out and Karasu instantly summoned up a crowd of green, glowing orbs that cast a pale glowing circle of green around him. Beyond his protective cloud of emerald bombs, the blanket of ebony loomed like a promise of death. He heard the soft fluttering of wings and spun, having seen a dark flutter, but saw nothing certain as he spun to face the threat.

He narrowed his eyes. "Who's there?" he demanded.

_Whoosh!_

He spun about as something black and billowing…like a cloak…flitted back into the darkness. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

_Tup! Tup! Skitter! Tup! Whoosh! Flutter! _Everywhere, all around, he could hear the sound of endless wings beating, slithering, feet making birth on the stones in the darkness, endless enigmatic fluttering figures outside the glow of his green light. He spotted thin pale faces, ebony black hair and dangerous luminous red eyes that flashed hungrily before vanishing into the darkness like animals, their charcoal wings fluttering. Karasu felt a pang…sudden realization and…fear?

"_And the Raven, flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting. On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door_," quoted someone, a single mocking voice rising from the gloom.

Karasu felt himself freeze, unable to move as a sudden horror, a sudden fear like that of a cornered deer, facing the terrible fangs of a great and starving wolf. There before him, standing just inside the ring of pastel green glow, the tall, slender frame and the pale familiar face of the broken angel he'd forgot. He wore a pair of un-necessary sunglasses that framed his garnet eyes, his soft pale hair floating around his forehead like a crown of spun gold.

Then, in his sing-song voice he continued, still reciting that poem…that damning poem like a child for a teacher. "_And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming. And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor." _

There was a smile on his lips and a feather in his hand and he spoke again as a crowd of glittering, red eyes emerged from the darkness behind him, sadistic, grinning faces all waiting – as if in expectation – for some kind of finale, or show. The only blond in the group of endless ebony-winged youkai, all lurking like predatory seraphim. Karasu's sense drowned in S-class power, every demon around him (The one in front of him especially) humming with negative spirit energy.

"_And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor_…"

Karasu detonated his explosives, the green cloud of bombs igniting and erupting in flame, fire and spirit energy as he made more and more and more, endless green bombs blasting, shattering the last line of poem, lighting up the darkness. Pale faces screeched in pain at the light, flinching away from the offending stabs of luminance. Dark alien voices screamed in melodic, but guttural tongues, wings beating flapping away from the top-sider's horrible lights.

The quest demon attack for what seemed like hours, until the voices were gone and his energy expired and he stopped, chest heaving, sweat dripping like rain droplets down his long hair to fall from the tips of his sable tresses and splatter on the soaking stone. He stood there, with only a single green orb hanging in the air in front of his pale face, lavender eyes reflecting the emerald gleam.

Suddenly another pale face loomed out of the shadows into the light again, ebony shades glittering green. A thin smile and he reached up a gloved hand to hover above the single glowing sphere. Karasu could only stare, his heart plunging in his chest. Cloud tipped his head like a cat considering a canary and spoke, finishing the line.

"_Shall be lifted…nevermore_."

His hand closed over the light, snuffing it out and Karasu knew only darkness then…

…And nothing never – ever – more.

* * *

_**Catch yu' later…much later…**_

* * *

****

**Author's Note: **I'd like to dedicate this fic to all you readers who stuck with me and finished it out to the end. Most people don't have the patience or the taste for my kind of tall tales, so I'm glad I found a group of crazies who enjoy tripping the guide lines of fan-fics for the fun of it. You've all made this story a precious little gem of mine and I'm glad you all enjoyed it.

**Cheezit: **It's about time. I was starting to think this non-sense would never end. It's time to start those sequels you keep promising and putting off. We need to work on _Walking My Delusional Path_. Hurry and wrap this up. Fans can't wait forever.

**Cloud8.9: **She needs to start that Teen Titans ficlet remember? She's got sequels running out her ears. This is a mess. My whole summer is blown.

**Me: **Well, it looks like I'm booked. Thank you all for reading. Any of you interested in my Touya fanfic stay sharp for my follow up. The one Cheezit just mentioned. It's looking like a short but sweet kind of wrapper-upper of all the frayed and tangled loose ends I left hanging at the end of _Ice Dreams of Fire_. Hope to see you then. Syco out!

Signed – _The Syco, the Rebel, and the Snackfood_


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